GPS

Mother and son united?
Recently a story emerged of a boy on a gap year trip fitted with a tracker device so his mother could follow his progress. I first read a version of this story in a local paper, now local papers are not noted for either rigour or opinion, however, there was both in this case. But first the facts.

The boy is called Harry Wilder, he is 19 years old, his mother is Rachel and they hail from Oxfordshire. Harry is off to Thailand, Australia and South Africa. The tracking device utilises the Global Positioning System satellites and is accurate to within 15 feet; his mother follows his progress on a computer.

From the outset the story had a certain odd quality about it.