Mattel was in the dock last week, apologising profusely and promising to do better. It took some time to round up the usual suspect – a big US corporation – after it emerged that some of its Chinese-made toys were decorated with lead paint. Mattel broke cover just when it seemed as if China would get the blame.

The maker of Barbie dolls and Fisher-Price toys did not actually do anything terribly wrong. No child has been shown to have suffered because one of its Chinese suppliers broke its rules by using lead paint rather than the safer kind. It has said “sorry” in textbook fashion and tightened up procedures in China to make it harder for any batch of toys not made to its standards to slip through.