Trying to curry favour with the world’s rising powers by supporting their membership of the UN Security Council is all the rage. Barack Obama came out in favour of Indian membership on his trip to Delhi. William Hague, Britain’s foreign secretary, has decided to support Brazil’s bid.

I can see the attraction of making speeches along these lines. You get applause and gratitude. But the likelihood is still that nothing much will happen. That is because, while everybody can agree that the composition of the five permanent members is an anachronistic holdover from 1945, actually opening the discussion about how to add new members is bit like peeking into Pandora’s box. Read more