At this week’s World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting, the teargas and riots of past ministerial meetings like the disastrous Seattle conference of 1999 have been a distant memory. Not all attendees think this a good thing. As one business representative notes darkly: “At least people were paying attention back then.”

The twists and turns in this week’s meeting have played to a small audience. The days have long gone when any WTO meeting was attended by a travelling caravan of lobbyists, protesters and journalists.