There was indeed a considerable period of history in which we pinkish European types told most of the rest of the world - poorer and possibly slightly differently tinted - what to do. We then started calling that colonialism a bad idea and so stopped doing it. Or, at least, we thought we’d all stopped doing that:

Pesticides banned in the EU because of their links to human health risks are being exported and used on farms in Brazil supplying Nestlé, an investigation has revealed.

Europe is home to some of the world’s biggest and most profitable chemical companies, including the Swiss-based Syngenta and the German multinationals BASF and Bayer.

But a number of the pesticides and fungicides they produce have been banned by European health officials after they were linked to cancer, reproductive problems and neurodegenerative diseases.

Despite the ban, millions of pounds worth of the products are still being exported to Brazil, where they are used on farms that supply the international sugar market, according to a new investigation by Lighthouse Reports and Repórter Brasil.

Brazil has been independent for over two centuries now. Brazil gets to make up its own mind as to how it wishes to regulate pesticides - and herbicides, fungicides and the rest.

It’s certainly possible to imagine seasons why different decisions might be reached. As a poorer country perhaps the risk/reward trade off is different? Possibly the climate leads to greater problems that must be solved? Or maybe, and we know this might come as a shock, Brazilians have a different view of the good life from the more puritanical Europeans?

About the only thing that doesn’t seem to have changed here is that pinkish Europeans are telling Johnny Foreigner what must be done. Even using the same justification - it’s for your own good you know.

We really did think we’d all agreed to stop doing that. So, why haven’t we?