Everyone has had a good laugh over the Kremlin’s decision to send its ageing rust bucket of an aircraft carrier through the English channel on its way to support Russia’s military onslaught in Syria.

There have been stories galore about the multitude of ailments afflicting the 55,000-ton Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s last remaining carrier from the Soviet era, which billowed unpleasant clouds of black smoke as she passed through the Dover Strait.

The ship’s plumbing, we are told, is so bad that many of her toilets are out of action, not an ideal arrangement where the 2,000-strong crew are required to spend months at sea. Meanwhile severe technical problems with the steam turbines that power the ship means that she needs to be accompanied by an ocean-going tug, just in case she breaks down.