News that the English Premier League wants our top-flight football teams to each play an extra match every season in far-flung parts of the world has sparked controversy. There has been much condemnation of the plan as another victory for the pursuit of profit over sporting tradition, though also some reluctant acceptance that “the beautiful game” needs to make the most of commercial opportunities emerging in its segment of the global entertainment market.

Controversies such as this are more and more commonplace across all aspects of our lives in an era when so much economic and social activity is – as the title of this book by Michael Moynagh and Richard Worsley puts it – going global.