Confirmation, then, that this was the real Stephen Fry, facing one of the dilemmas of modern manners - how to politely decline an offer of online friendship.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Are my online friends for real?

Simon Fanshawe, author of The Done Thing, a book about modern manners, says the idea will only be embraced outside times of crisis if there are authority figures organising it.

BBC: Communal cabbing

In a comedy of manners set amid the chaos of modern Beijing, the characters have a hard time just keeping their heads.

CNN: OT ONLY DID HONG