China in our hands

For many people, watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will be like trying to enjoy a party above the din of police cars taking away uninvited guests. However much you turn up the music, you can still hear the sirens: the oppressed of Tibet and other rebellious provinces, the silenced dissidents, the Western protesters, like the four ‘Free Tibet’ activists detained this week, the families of those executed under one of the most severe penal codes in the world. And the party will be a little short on celebrity guests too. Steven Spielberg won’t be there: he resigned as artistic adviser for the opening ceremony in February, in protest at China’s support for the murderous regime in Sudan. Last week, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg appealed to Gordon Brown to snub the closing ceremony in protest at China’s failure to fulfil the promises on human rights it made when awarded the Olympics back in 2001; Mr Brown is unlikely to take Mr Clegg’s advice, though it is hard to imagine our glum Prime Minister adding any inappropriate levity to the occasion.