Melbourne remains the world’s most “liveable” city, according to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking from our sister organisation, the Economist Intelligence Unit. Considering 30 factors relating to safety, health care, educational, infrastructure and the environment in 140 cities, it shows that since 2010 average “liveability” across the world has fallen by 1%, led by a 2.2% fall in the score for stability and safety. Terrorist shootings in France and Tunisia and civil unrest in America have compounded continuing conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Libya. In Athens, austerity rather than unrest has weighed on the provision of public services. The most pleasant places, notes the EIU, tend to be “mid-sized cities in wealthier countries with a relatively low population density”, which explains the low ranking of big cities like London and New York—and goes some way to explaining Melbourne’s continued place in the sun.