The Only Way is Ethics: Drawing the line between borders isn’t always easy

Rivers pay little heed to borders – England and Wales share care of the Severn

Dates surrounding the death of Pavel Srnicek were originally reported wrongly (Getty)

I am aware that little irritates readers more – and rightly so – than when we fail to identify devolved powers properly.

For the United Kingdom, there has been no bigger domestic issue over the past two years than the strength of the independence movement in Scotland. It would be reasonable to conclude, therefore, that journalists should be au fait with who runs what in the constituent parts of our country. Yet there have still been a couple of occasions in the past year when we have written a health story, for instance, and referred to the UK – when the matter has related only to England and Wales.

Similarly, there are aspects of government that are devolved by Westminster to Cardiff. One of them, as a reader highlighted last week, is responsibility for protecting and improving the environment. As such, he suggested, it seemed a bit harsh to report that the Environment Agency, an English body, had questions to answer about recent flooding in Wales, when Natural Resources Wales was surely the more appropriate organisation to hold to account.

It is certainly true that it might have been helpful to point out the split nature of responsibility for flood management. Indeed, when it comes to explaining devolved powers, less is rarely more – we should always offer specific detail about the UK-wide or nation-specific remits of relevant agencies.

That having been said, floods pay little heed to borders; nor do rivers, for that matter. The Severn is a notable example, and responsibility for flood-prevention planning in respect of that waterway is shared between the English and Welsh authorities. So, while Natural Resources Wales might be the most obvious target for interrogations about torrents in Wales, England’s Environment Agency may still find itself in deep water.

That was the day that was

Dates are pesky things; we live our lives by the calendar yet find ourselves constantly tripped up by days, months and years. We might write 2006 because we can’t work out where the last 10 years went. We might even get the century wrong from time to time.

Thankfully, readers are alive to such mix-ups. Indeed, that was literally true on one occasion when a passing reference to the date on which a particular individual had died resulted in an email from the man in question, who was pleased to confirm that the said date had yet to arrive.

Regrettably, the same cannot be said of Pavel Srnicek, the former Newcastle United goalkeeper who did die recently. In fact, though, it was more recent than we appeared to think – an item on The Independent’s website listed his passing as having taken place on 29 October last year, rather than 29 December.

Marie Antoinette departed this earth in brutal fashion on 16 October 1793, as noted in an article last week. Our piece reported that a new book had revealed details of Antoinette’s affair with Swedish diplomat Axel von Fersen, including love letters between the pair. Intriguingly, however, one of the letters we cited from Von Fersen to Antoinette was allegedly dated 29 October 1794; while one in the other direction was apparently written by Marie – quite literally head over heels in love by then – on 19 March 1795. Perhaps one can blame postal delays.

For calendar confusion, our apologies. To those who pointed the errors out, my thanks. Rest assured it will be a new year’s resolution to avoid such date-based pitfalls. In the meantime, may I wish you a happy 2013?