> "We would rather have left the minefields as they were. They are all clearly marked, clearly fenced. No civilian has ever been injured. We said to the British government, 'Don't spend the money here, go to some other country where they have a much greater need to free up farming land.'"

> "Unfortunately," Elsby adds, "the British government have signed up to the Ottawa convention, which puts a duty on them to do this."

> The 1997 Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty compels signatories - which include the UK - to clear minefields in territory under their control.

> Since 2009 the British government has spent tens of millions of pounds on mine-clearance in the Falklands.

It's quotes like this that make me despair most for human civilisation. Our inability to design systems - or empower people - with the ability to act within a loose framework and avoid institutional insanity.