Borders can be complicated
A jolly piece in the Spectator, inspired by the dispute over Gibraltar, reports on strange borders around the world. What look like neat lines on maps often turn out, on …
borders
Proved right on press regulation
This blog has not expected to be proved right so quickly on press regulation, but that’s what happened today. At the end of last year, when the Leveson commission published …
Dam!
The intergovernmental way of doing business took another knock yesterday at a meeting of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), a body that brings together Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia to …
Can the press be controlled?
The proposals from the Leveson inquiry into the behaviour of the British press, which reported last month, include the call for a legal backstop to independent regulation. The Press Complaints …
The death of distance?
Long-time favourite of this blog, Daniel Hannan MEP, likes to argue that globalisation is making membership of the EU unnecessary because distance is ceasing to matter. When it comes to …
Julian Assange should face justice
It is wrong that national borders should be used as a means of evading criminal justice. No bank robber escaped to the Costa del Crime should think that crossing a …
Is the sea level rising?
The Spectator last week questioned the reports that sea levels around the world are rising. (Read the article, by Nils-Axel Mörner, here.) Higher sea levels are generally expected to be …
Speed costs
Another example emerged today of how national borders get in the way of fighting crime. This time, the crimes are speeding and parking offences. There has been an influx into …
Too much red tape, say the police
Devotees of detective novels will be familiar with the police complaint about too much red tape hampering their ability to get the job done. Those forms you have to fill …
Against the world
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson, the most successful football manager in British history, has always cultivated a siege mentality among his players. No-one else will do us any favours: …