“Let the Games Begin,” orders a thumping editorial in today’s London Times. It’s time to put aside complaints about human rights and enjoy the lavish sporting feast that Beijing is putting on. The article even praises Beijing for showing “restraint” in response to Western critics.

There is no disguising Chinese irritation, however, at what many see as a determined attempt by Western leaders and foreign media to rain on China’s parade and dwell on sensitive issues such as the Government’s attempts to block websites, the harassment of journalists, the silencing of dissidents and unrest in Tibet and the Xinjiang region. There is a danger of the Chinese perceiving the world as a “bad guest” at their Olympics.

In a sense, that’s clearly right. All the moral hysteria in the build up to the Games amounted to little more than a lengthy breast-beating exercise: no important country was really going to boycott the event, and the protests served only to insult the host nation.

But the Times’s pro-Beijing voice rings a little hollow when you remember that the paper’s owner, the “Dirty Digger” Rupert Murdoch, has very substantial Chinese interests.

We can expect plenty more News Corp enthusiasm for the Games in the next few weeks.