They say you can tell a lot about a person by the type of Handshake with which they greet you. Some try and dominate you with a bone crusher of a handshake – a sign that they feel inferior, I always think – and for a few moments you are left wringing your paw trying to get the blood circulating through the veins again. Usually no harm is done but you make a mental note to avoid their proffered hand at all costs.

A woman in Sydney, I read this week, claimed that the handshake of an estate agent at a property auction in May 2017 was so Firm that her left hand became swollen. She went on to say that she was in pain for several months and it was so bad that she had to see a quack and undergo a course of physiotherapy. She reported the incident to the police in August 2017 who decided to press charges.

John Anthony, a senior member of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal – doubtless a firm handshaker himself – threw the case out, commenting that “the police report does not in my view support any act of violence in the nature of a deliberate or reckless act that could be classified as an assault.”

So, firm handshakers remain free to inflict temporary pain on their victims. Perhaps it is time to turn the other cheek and demand a kiss.