Holbein's portraits are prodigies of representation, and often quite moving because they preserve something intimately domestic (as in his preparatory line drawing for a painting of Sir Thomas More and his family) But they don't seem to me psychologically searching. (Holbein in England is the most tactile painting show I've seen for years - you can virtually feel the textures of the cloth in his images as you look at them).This is one reason why we think of photographs when we look at his pictures - not just because of the fine-grained level of realism they achieve, but also because, like a camera, Holbein doesn't appear to show any particular prejudice in favour of the human content.That's linked to the other way his detachment finds expression - the freedom of his portraits from any tremor of consequence or diplomatic necessity. And since it was possible that someone might be offended by this description, we had to consider listeners' sensitivities. There followed a brief discussion as to whether it constituted an unintentional slur or was a defensible shorthand for a rather more complicated idea.What I was trying to identify by the phrase was the curious detachment of Holbein's regard - which is at the heart of his genius. One way that this finds expression is in the evenness of concentration in the paintings. Holbein paints fabric and fur with the same reverent attention he gives to skin and hair.

When the red light went off, my producer questioned the acceptability of this description.She was simply doing her job, of course, since all BBC programmes must have a signed-off Compliance Form, designed to ensure that broadcasts have taken into account broadcasting regulations and BBC guidelines. This is probably because neither of us wants to say anything that might sound remotely anti-Semitic, so it is safer to drift from the point...The case continues.. More from Miles Kington. I felt a little for Boris Johnson the other day, fending off the wasp-like attacks that followed his foolish decision to say what was actually on his mind, rather than process his statements through the usual Passport Control of political acceptability. It wasn't that I saw his remarks as brave but inadmissible truths. Most of his gaffes were standard Johnsonian bladder-whacking, walloping the bien-pensants for the sake of a quick laugh from the party faithful. It was just that I'd found myself in a vaguely similar predicament just a few days earlier, after recording last week's edition of Saturday Review for BBC Radio 4. We had been talking about Tate Britain's new Holbein exhibition, and, after quite a bit of warm and enthusiastic consensus about the uncanny precision of his portraits, I ventured that there was something of the high-functioning Asperger's about his talent.

But in any case, I never use the expression "Yo!" when talking to people.Counsel: But you did just now, when you said: "Yo soy extranjero."Man: Ah, but that is because "Yo" is the Spanish word for "I".Counsel: So what would be the reaction of people in Spain if you wore this T-shirt? Would they think "YOSEMITE" meant you were proclaiming: "I, a Semite!"Man: No.Counsel: Why not?Man: Because "Semite" is not the Spanish for "Semite" That is "Semita". In any case, even if someone misread my shirt's message as "Yo! Semite!", why would it be offensive? I am told that "Yo" is a friendly greeting.Counsel: I believe so.Man: Though difficult to use to a famous cellist.Counsel: I don't quite follow...Man: Well, if you met Yo Yo Ma, and said "Yo Yo Yo!", it might sound a bit odd...Judge: If I might intervene here, Mr Bannister, I feel we are drifting from the point a bit.Counsel: Yes, m'lud. I might just as well have been approached by a Syrian or Egyptian claiming to be offended by my T-shirt.Counsel: Have you ever been?Man: I don't know I do not understand Arabic. So I would not know if any Middle Eastern person talking his own language took exception to my shirt.

I would assume he was asking directions, and would give him the same answer I give to everyone who asks me the way in London.Counsel: Which is what?Man: "Yo soy extranjero."Counsel: Which is what?Man: It is the Spanish for "I am a foreigner".Counsel: And that generally works?Man: Yes Except when the stranger is Spanish That can be embarrassing. The spacing makes all the difference.Counsel: Not to Mr Rosenberg. He felt offended.Man: I cannot see why.Counsel: Because it smacks of anti-Semitism.Man: I cannot see why.Counsel: It looks as if you are addressing him as a Semite.Man: That is ridiculous. As I understand it, Jewish people never think of themselves particularly as Semites The Semitic people are not exclusively Jewish They include all the people in the Middle East. Now, Mr Leonard, let us cast our minds back to last July, when you went on holiday to America.Man: I am casting my mind back.Counsel: You went to a large nature park in the USA, did you not?Man: Hold on, I've cast my mind too far back I've gone straight to my holiday in France in 2004.. Yes, I'm with you now. It was Yosemite Park.Counsel: While you were there, did you buy a T-shirt?Man: Yes, I did.Counsel: Can you tell us what it said, in large letters?Man: Yes It said "YOSEMITE".Counsel: Very good, Mr Leonard. Now, I want you to cast your mind forward...Man: Into the future?Counsel: No From July last year to September the same year.