When you’re organising a big event, there are always a few nagging fears of terrible things that might happen. What if no one turns up? What if the speaker gets heckled or cancels with a sore throat? But Obiter suspects that the organisers of an event about human rights abuses in Africa and Latin America last week didn’t see this one coming. Picture the scene.

An expectant hush had settled among the capacity audience. About 150 lawyers and others were packed into a lecture theatre at the School of African and Oriental Studies in central London. They were waiting to see two 22-minute films made by al-Jazeera, at an event jointly hosted by Human Rights Watch and Business & Human Rights. The films were documentaries of human rights abuses by big business in Africa and Latin America, and the atmosphere was tense.

The lights dimmed and then… Nothing. Had there been some sort of power cut? Not quite. Nothing so epic. In fact, the remote control for the projector had gone missing and the films could not be shown.

Conspiracy theorists in the audience had a field evening. Was the long arm of big business somehow to blame for hiding the remote? Or was it simply an oversight, as the blushing faces of the organisers implied? The truth may never be known. Did anyone look down the back of the sofa?