All stout-hearted Britons will have been cringing with embarrassment as their Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, apologised to his visiting Chinese counterpart, Wen Jiabao, for the disruption caused by two inches of snow.

It seems that the country that kept going with Hitler’s bombs raining down on London can now be brought to a complete halt by a light dusting of loose powder and temperatures only a couple of degrees below freezing.

Mr Wen – widely praised for his reaction to the truly disastrous Sichuan Earthquake last year – managed to keep a diplomatic straight face.

Even before the humiliation caused by the weather, Mr Brown was suffering a “loss of face” – something that is traditionally very important in China. Although the downturn is also having a negative impact on the Chinese, there it takes the form of a slight reduction in their phenomenal rates of growth, but the British economy faces actual contraction – indeed, according to most informed predictions, a worse contraction than most.

In something of a panic, Mr Brown seems to be falling back on old instincts – nationalising banks, raising taxes, and borrowing money.

The nominally socialist Mr Wen, by contrast, has more confidence in the free markets. He is said to have recently been rereading – note rereading – Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations.

No wonder the Chinese are in a stronger position than the British: their leaders have a better understanding of Professor Smith, acknowledged throughout the world as the “Father of Modern Economics”, than the leaders of his own country.

Truly it is said that a prophet is not without honour except in his own land.