Why are you in Davos? It is a question we all struggle with in our different ways. But when our three-man FT delegation posed it to Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani president seemed incredulous. Were we implying, he asked, that Pakistan was an unstable country that could not be left to its own devices? “There is no danger in Pakistan,” he assured us. “Business is bustling.”

Does this reaction suggest the president is cool, calm and in command? Or completely detached from reality? Or presenting a cynical front to the world, while he battles to contain the forces that threaten to engulf him? During the course of our audience with him – written up in Thursday’s paper – I got flavours of all three ideas.