As Colombia approaches presidential elections next year, the US decision to decertify the country in the war on drugs plays into the hands of its allies on the political right, writes NICK MacWILLIAM

WHEN the nights are long, the days short, and a gale howls outside, it gives a little time to reflect on the year gone by.
I’ve always had a thing for numbers. A few decades and several stone ago, I was a pretty useful time trialist. It’s an odd kind of bike race, just the road, your breath, the thump of your heart as you race against time itself.
On the best of days, 50 miles seems to pass in a few minutes, an otherworldly experience that sends you floating above the road and yourself, and all the time, every pebble, bump, and curve on the highway noticed, noted, and understood in minute detail.