My son is feeling very glum. We had tickets for an Oasis concert in early April, but it''s been cancelled. The reasons for the cancellation remain unclear. According to Oasis, the Chinese authorities suddenly realised that Noel Gallagher had taken part in a pro-Tibet concert in 1997. But the Chinese organiser says it was cancelled for ''economic reasons''.

I''ve lost count of the number of times we''ve bought tickets for concerts that have been cancelled at the last minute, or that we''ve tried to buy tickets for advertised concerts only to find them cancelled. Around the time of the Olympics a whole bunch of concerts were advertised in official publications. Not only did the concerts not take place, some of them had never been booked, according to the performers'' agents.

The authorities are very nervous about mass gatherings that might get out of hand, very nervous ever since Bjork shouted ''Free Tibet'' from a stage here, very nervous about everything right now. Last year held huge challenges, the year ahead looks even more rocky for the leadership as it treads its fragile tightrope.