He had retired, or been retired, early from the diplomatic corps, lacking the clubbable personality that rose easily through the Foreign Office hierarchy.

ECONOMIST: Crime in the shadow of the Great Wall

Whether or not you end up accepting Oakeshott's vision of a civilised, clubbable society as achievable or even attractive, Mr Franco's fine introduction shows, on the contrary, what a tough and wily thinker he was.

ECONOMIST: In their different ways, defenders both of an open society