Colm O'Regan: The miracle of the supply chain - it's Beijing talking to Bweeng

"We had it too good for so long. Clicking on a deal for three euro and getting a piece of plastic on Ali Express. "

“Supply chains?” It was once an inquiry in broken English to see if the shop had something to fix your bicycle. Now everyone’s talking about it. Now everyone has their favourite anecdote about something that they can’t get ‘because of the whole supply chain thing’. 

The story you bring out at the in-between bit of a wedding. You are standing in Ballyslaughter Castle, once the scene of a massacre, with a glass of prosecco in one hand and a scone and the ceremony booklet in the other. Around you, people are saying, ‘Weren’t they fierce lucky with the weather?’.