In November 2022, I was lucky enough to attend the Aké arts and book festival in Lagos alongside Abdulrazak Gurnah, winner of the Nobel prize for literature, Kojo Koram, author of Uncommon Wealth, and others. During a drive to an art gallery, Koram and I were shown Mobolaji Johnson station, a Chinese-assisted, large, modern train station in the once wasteland of Ebute Metta, Lagos. Last month, a Chinese-built 27km light railway service in Lagos, a city of 15 million people, performed its maiden test run. The optics speak for themselves: China is working with Africans on huge modern infrastructure projects across the continent, many of which have led to the betterment of African lives (despite controversy over debt trap suspicions); meanwhile British princes argue whose “thing” Africa is.