In reality they are just reprising their role as colonial masters without having to deal with any of the problems associated with occupying a country. These modern methods are far more efficient and nobody ever need find out which country is taking advantage of the situation. It's globalization refined to an art form; the ultimate in free trade.

For Le Carré this is fairly straightforward stuff, with only a little bit of mystery surrounding Bruno himself. Can he really be as naïve as he makes himself out to be? There is the occasional clue dropped that maybe he is not quite who claims he is, the wide-eyed half-blood African child who grew up under the not so tender care of Roman Catholic priests. How is it that everything so conveniently falls into place for him? Perhaps he really is what he says he is, or is he too good to be true?

The Mission Song shows Le Carré is as in tune and aware of the world around him as he ever was, and just as quick to point out the various moral ambiguities our countries get up to in the name of duty and the country's well being. This is his attempt to plead for the people of Africa that one day we might just leave them the hell alone to try and recover from the mess we have left them in.

If we could only keep our greedy hands to ourselves, he seems to be imploring, the day may come when Africa will be able to flourish like it deserves. That's a good dream to hold on to.