“Wherever you go in the World”, blurted my mate supping cider, “these bloody  #Muslims are trouble!” I considered this statement and having had a few sups myself, was tempted to agree. Islam bans alcohol and doesn't allow sports where women (or men for that matter) wear shorts. That’s definitely a downer in my book. But even with my analytical faculties reduced I thought of #Indonesia. This country has world’s biggest Muslim population and just elected a new president in a feisty democratic plebiscite. So whilst many Muslim countries are both bloody and in trouble, my mate's statement just doesn’t cut it.

I am intrigued by this map of the  so-called Heihe–Tengchong Line that is making the rounds of the English tweeting  Chinese commentators that I follow. It shows that according to 2002 statistics, west of the line, 57% of the area is inhabited by only 6% of the Chinese population, east of the  line, 43% of the area, is inhabited by the majority 94% of Chinese the population. Apparently these percentages are little  changed from 1935 which is probably why the CPC are making such a great effort to  build infrastructure in the West and are improving transport links such as high-speed rail. This graphic should make #India and #Russia feel much more comfortable about the future war over resources (water in particular) in the Far East. As the heat map shows, any serious movements of military or civilian people to the West and North West of China to threaten these countries will be easy to spot.

The latest UK ‘Issue’ polling confounds the pollsters and political elite by showing that ‘Immigration’ is now the most important issue facing the country. It is to the credit of the British people that they are dead right. Immigration is the most important because it drives every other issue from immigrant labour displacing indigenous workers and moderating wages to putting pressure on UK infrastructure. In fact, migration is the most important issue facing policy makers worldwide – scratch the surface of any other and the effects of the movement of people will be in there somewhere.

How do you choose your friends? Of course, this question is context specific. For example, if I was back on the streets of Northern Ireland (see "Military Balls"), a friend is a fellow army officer who had balls of steel and fearlessly defused those pesky IEDs. But would he still be a decent companion for me today? Someone who understands the ebbs and flows of humanity in the modern globalised world, from the ground up. Someone I would invite round to my house to have dinner and interesting conversation with on a precious Saturday night? No balls of steel required here, just high EQ! Here’s a tool that will sniff this out ...