Thanks, or not, as the case may be, but communications technology has meant that the world has gotten a lot smaller. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have even used the internet to form new romantic relationships. People have proposed marriage even over webcams and arranged wedding dates without ever having met their virtual lover in person. Has the world really gone stark raving mad?

The Asia Euro dating phenomenon is seeing Thais, Filipinos, and other Asian women, particularly those from South East Asia, pairing up with western European men so much so that new communities of mixed race marriages are springing up in all major European countries. But will they work out?

The internet is not the real world in the sense that there can be no intimacy during the courting. Live webcam chat, as fantastic as it is, is not the same as sitting on the same sofa holding hands, or feeling the joy of the partner as you arrive for a dinner date carrying some lovely flowers to kick the evening off on a romantic footing.

These people have met online, fallen in love online, and chatted endlessly before they actually met, but has it really laid down the foundation for love that is usually needed prior to any real-world proposal? Time will tell!