Leading Article: Kicking the bug

Peter Kerry, the missing schoolboy, was born too late. When young Cecil Rhodes was struck with wanderlust, he found a continent to roam and empires to build. Dick Whittington set off for London, to win political power. Laurie Lee, trekking Europe as a teenager with his violin, made his reputation as an early travel writer.

Today's would-be teenage travellers need an outlet for their exploratory urges. Instead of dispatching them home again (courtesy of Interpol) we should send them off to investigate the final frontier. If the experience of the astronaut Shannon Lucid is anything to go by, six months stuck in a space station with two burly Russians should cure that travel bug for good.