Kicker: Faulty border division

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Good fences make good neighbors.

But what if the fence is in the wrong place?

Turns out neighbors England and Wales have a boundary dispute. A mountain surveyor by the name of Myrddyn Phillips figured out the accepted border between the two nations has been wrong since 1887.

A natural watershed from the summit in the Black Mountains serves as the border. But Phillips found it is actually 39 feet further west inside Wales, not England. Doesn’t sound like much, until you consider it stretches for 9 miles and equates to 1.8 million square feet of land. Surveyor Phillips says England is therefore entitled to take back the area from Wales.

Britain’s mapping agency denies the claim. Besides that, no legislation exists to change the boundary.

You know I’m not sure whether England’s loss to Wales in the Six Nations rugby tournament a few weeks ago figures into any of this.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

(Photo/Myrddyn Phillips)

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