This sort of street name diplomacy is relatively new. So far the pattern is for local or second-tier politicians keen to make a splash to come up with renaming wheezes at which their superiors can chortle indulgently but with full deniability. And so far those superiors have been in charge of nuclear superpowers, fond of showing the world that they are not afraid of giving offence.
This does not mean that the practice cannot be adapted to suit smaller powers anxious to make friends rather than enemies. Britain, for example, as it heads out of the EU to the largely unknown place called Global, should regard the gazetteer of the London A-Z as a diplomatic asset to be rewritten in the national interest.
With a view to a sharp uptick in trade with North Korea, Gunnersbury Avenue should be renamed Kim Can Alley in honour of its embassy there. And just in case Brexit turns out to be a terrible mistake, EU embassies could be relocated en masse to Ever Closer Crescent, pronounced, naturally, croissant.
Figures collated by charities cover sexual harassment in Britain and abroad. They raise troubling questions about regulation within the charity sector. Oxfam recorded 87 incidents last year, Save the Children 31 β 10 of which were referred to the police and civil authorities β and Christian Aid two.
All four receive money from the Department for International Development. Of the Oxfam cases, 53 were referred to the police or other statutory authorities. A total of 20 staff or volunteers were dismissed.
