The fall from grace last year of Chinese leader Bo Xilai, followed by the trail, conviction and sentencing of his wife for the murder of British business man Neil Heywood all threw a very powerful, albeit momentary, light on the working of the Chinese legal and judicial system. The trial of Bo himself, later this year, may well repeat this process - if the authorities there permit it.

If you were to pay attention to the wilder enthusiasms of the popular press you might be led to believe that the threats to our traditional way of life from the depredations of health and safety were far greater than the economic upheaval being wrought by more obvious factor such as the flat-lining here and the changing world scene led by developments in China.

Spring rushed into Berlin at quite a lick through a short break there last weekend with a tree outside our rented apartment going from bare branches to full bloom in a matter of days.

Why do Englishmen drink standing up ?

"I am from the Government and I am here to help you"

"They are all corrupt. Totally corrupt. Every last one of them."

It's a goodly trot, you might think, from the current food scare to the latest plans for reinvestment in Birmingham but let's have a closer look - we might just learn something.

Its bizarre at the very least - and going beyond that maybe more than a little distasteful- to contemplate a situation where in thirty or forty years time, Helmand province in Afghanistan were to become a tourist destination solely as a result of the present conflict. Yet maybe you shouldn't rule it out.

Early light reveals paddy fields alongside the railway track. A scene maybe hardly changed for generations begins to unfold.

'You are probably wondering why I have assembled you all here' said the Famous Foreign Detective as his eyes swept around the group in the ship's dining saloon