I'm finally starting to feel like my old, precancer self, as if I' ve finally returned home from a long and harrowing journey through dark and dangerous lands with plenty of earthy tales to tell.

The truth is more sinister: the world was a creation of the artificially intelligent computers that have taken over the Earth and have subjugated mankind in the process.

Some believe China Inc can be more sinister than that: for example, America thinks that Chinese telecoms-equipment firms pose a threat to its national security.

Another boss negotiating a controversial natural-resources deal found the atmosphere sinister. "You had to take your battery out of your mobile phone.

Far from being sinister, his mask is a jokey icon of festive citizenship.