Dear Lord Bobo, what is it about Germans that they always seem to do well in international football tournaments? It’s genetics, isn’t it? What chance does Malaysia have? PK, via email

By the time this goes to press, Germany would either be in the final of Euro 2012, or been knocked out by Italy. But the point stands that Germany (and previously West Germany) do tend to do very well in international football tournaments.

Lord Bobo isn’t sure this can be put down to genetics, as in the past few years the “Germany” team haven’t been as “German” as one would expect. No, it’s not that all Germans need to be big, blonde, and fearsome like Oliver Kahn.

But it’s a fact that the origins of many German national footballers in the past five years – in terms of parentage, residence, or birthplace – have included Brazil, Ghana, Tunisia, Nigeria, Spain, Poland, Yugoslavia and France.

We’d like to say that it has something to do with a national culture or style of play, which would seem sustainable as most of the Germany squad play in the Bundesliga. But in recent years, even that has slowly started to change.

With the globalisation of football, international football tournaments don’t have the same effect anymore – of seeing different football cultures and previously-unknown players. Almost all good players play in the major European leagues. For example, Brazil plays with very European tactics these days.

What it’s probably down to then is the fact that they have a very professional, well-run football body. Quality runs all the way through from the administration to the manager to the facilities to the player preparation.

With proper planning and implementation, Malaysia can one day get up there too.

Look at what happened to Japan and South Korea.

Dear Lord Bobo, I recently heard someone say that lawyers would become redundant as the Internet makes more and more legal information easily accessible to the general public. My daughter is thinking of studying law in a few years. Do you think that it’s advisable? Mala K, via email

The Internet has been hailed as a savior and destroyer of many things in equal measures.  The fact that more and more legal information is available to the general public is obviously a good thing, but to stretch that to mean that lawyers will become redundant is ridiculous.

Look at it this way – there is more medical information available online than there are hairs on Lord Bobo’s ample being, but that doesn’t mean that people stop going to doctors when they are ill.

Okay, okay, we hear you, that may well be because they need to get a piece of paper allowing them to take a day off from work.

The availability of information means a more educated and informed public, which means that lawyers will have to do a bit more to convince clients that they know what they’re doing. But as long as there are laws and people, there will always be disputes, and therefore lawyers will never be obsolete.

Some people may think that they will opt not to engage a lawyer when taking part in a transaction, but when the other party emails over a 72-page contract drawn up by his lawyer, you can bet that another lawyer will be getting a call very shortly thereafter.

Taking the viewpoint of a businessman, it may well be possible to carry on a business without getting lawyers involved.

After all, a lot of advice overlaps with those of business, financial, or tax consultants. However, as any successful businessman will tell you, having a good lawyer to advise a business will actually increase profitability and efficiency.

As for your daughter, yes, a career in law is most advisable, particularly if she makes it meaningful by spending her time fighting for justice with LoyarBurok.

Is crime up, down, or the same as always? In the wake of all the she said he said, statistics, indices, and my-neighbour-told-mes, I don’t know what to believe anymore. Pepper Spray, via email

The recent “crime has gone up in Selangor, wait no sorry we made a mistake it’s actually gone down” episode was quite entertaining.

But nowhere near as hilarious as Idris Jala blaming the media for creating a negative perception of the crime rate, and asking them to report on more positive stories of crime-solving instead!

In fact, his statement was so amusing, that His Supreme Eminenceness will end this week’s column on that note so we can all have a good laugh – after all, we’re not going to beat that for amusement value.

Have a question for Lord Bobo? Call on His Supreme Eminenceness by emailing asklordbobo@loyarburok.com, stating your full name, and a pseudonym (if you want), or tweeting your questions by mentioning @LoyarBurok and using the hashtag #asklordbobo. What the hell are you waiting for? Hear This, and Tremblingly Obey (although trembling is optional if you are somewhere very warm)! Liberavi Animam Meam! I Have Freed My Spirit!