Wise guy

Academics may be bright, but how many are wise? Only one, according to the Council of Europe. Antonio La Pergola, professor of law in Padua and Bologna and chairman of the Venice Commission on Democracy through Law, is the only academic to make it onto the Council's Committee of Wise Persons. But the Committee, which is due to complete its review of the council in November, appears to have adopted academic ways. After a year of deliberation, it has yet to produce a public report.