We should be wary of getting too close to an EU arms economy

WHY should a bell be shaped like a bullet, you might ask, as you exit from the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi.

Surely it's incongruous to place 800 kilograms of metal, fashioned into an enormous projectile, so near to the bones of the Church's best-loved saint.

But the sculptor knew what he was doing. Just as St Francis renounced his past life of combat to embrace values of gentleness and peace, Bruce Hasson melted down illegally-held firearms, confiscated from criminals by the San Francisco police, and turned them into something new. His bell symbolises an as yet unrealised dream of a world free from violence, where swords are turned into ploughshares, and weapons become bells to welcome pilgrims.