Take North Korea, and the current hoo-ha about its threat to launch missiles against the US. It seems that some people think it’s okay to caricature Kim Jong-un based on his ethnicity, culture and appearance. Ooh, look at the little dancing fool with the crazy hairstyle! If we did the same to, say, China’s Xi Jinping, there’d be a massive outcry. On the face of it, China is up there with North Korea in terms of human rights abuses and lack of democracy, but we don’t spout off on public platforms about those crazy Chinese and their weird customs.

Just because the North Korean culture is so utterly alien to much of the west, we allow ourselves to caricature the North Koreans and their leader. Admittedly, if you’re raised in a system of culture that doesn’t favour the theatrical and the hagiographic, you’re going to find the sight of prancing soldiers a little weird. But think about it before you join in with the chorus of ridicule: for the so-called civilised west, there’s probably very little difference in the quality of the disdain they feel for South Africa’s dancing Jacob Zuma.