"So Teja faced racial and political discrimination." Shufti says, turning the sheet over and writing on the blank one below. "Gene has experienced time discrimination."

She watches Gene screw up the paper. Then, contemplatively, gets the bottle of bribe whiskey, pours him a glass, and sets it in front of him.

"I'm actually not doing this to wind you up, or to tell you what to do; all I'm asking is you think about it for a few minutes. And if by the end nothing has changed I won't bring this up again. Either way I won't bring up anything in here outside this room."

She leans back against the table.

"Mr Javert, can you think of an example, for example, you may have been discriminated against for being French?"