Such dominance by one language has implications for other, less widely spoken languages; it also produces another kind of linguistic imbalance, as foreign language learning among native English speakers is in decline, a fact that has serious implications for the future.

Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.

Have you seen my ballpoint? I need to sign this form, and a felt-tip won't make carbons.

Barristers who are members of another Inn may join Lincoln's Inn as an ad eundem member.