The Dalai Lama can provoke a wide range of responses. For my own part I have always thought him a spiritual placebo whose main utility – aside from aggravating the Chinese Communist party – is as a bore-detector in others. The moment somebody cites the Dalai Lama at any gathering, you know you can start searching for an escape hatch.

Yet I doubt that anyone has ever claimed that the world’s most famous Buddhist is a fascist, xenophobe or (that most common and inexact label of our time) “alt-right”. Perhaps it is time to rethink this assumption? For during a speech this week, the Dalai Lama said something that, if it had come from anyone else’s lips, would have had them labelled a full-on fascist. Whip up those robes, they would claim, and you will find jackboots.

His comments came during a visit to Malmo, Sweden. In 2015, that country added an extra 2 per cent to its population through migration. So the question of how many people Europe should take in and when some limit might be reached is especially pertinent there. For his part the Dalai Lama advised his audience to “Receive them, help them, educate them. But ultimately they should develop their own country.” Worse was that the Nobel prize-winning Buddhist leader continued: “Europe belongs to the Europeans”.