Now that the Rio games have ended and Tokyo takes on the task of preparing the 2020 event perhaps it is time to reform the structure of the IOC with regard to the methods of choosing the venues for the Olympic Games.

The world changed when I woke up early on 24 June and checked the referendum result. As a British citizen who grew up in the Common Market before it became the European Union, Brexit was something unimaginable.

Nobody wishes to minimise the human tragedy which has been unfolding over the past five years in North Africa and the Middle East since the outset of what became known as the Arab Spring.

Oscar Wilde once said. «If there is one thing worse than being talked about it is not being talked about.» Donald Trump certainly seems to have taken his advice to heart in the US election campaign with his extreme views on immigration and terrorism, which many politicians tend to avoid by being politically correct.

The recent announcement by Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, of the discovery of the remains of the Spanish Galleon, San José, sunk by the British navy in 1708 with a cargo estimated at between $4 and $17billion, not only created worldwide interest but caused a diplomatic incident and a potential legal battle with international ramifications.

The European Union is facing its gravest crisis since the Common Market came into existence at the Treaty of Rome in 1957. Individual states, dissatisfied with the technocrats in Brussels, are reasserting their right to determine their own policies and laws while many of Europe's regions are seeking more autonomy or even independence.

Exactly two hundred years ago, during the winter of 1814 through to June 1815, Europe's principal nations were locked in negotiations to determine the future of the continent at the Congress of Vienna. The participants included ambassadors from virtually every European state, region and city as well as special interest groups. Their aim was to restore or modify borders to bring peace to the continent in the aftermath of the French revolution and Napoleonic wars.