Today is the 40th birthday of the Customs Union. One of the things I find when you talk to people about the EU is that some of the benefits have been around for so long that people take them for granted and only look at the immediate (true of anything I suppose). But without theContinue reading “Happy birthday booze cruise”
Category Archives: European Union
First the cucumbers, now the kiwis
[Sigh] One step forward, two steps back… The redtops are full of a story today about a market trader who is being fined for his kiwis being 1mm smaller than the rules for grade 2 kiwis allow. Of course “Brussels bureaucrats” are getting the blame. Now, there are a number of things here: 1) We doContinue reading “First the cucumbers, now the kiwis”
Headless chicken
It’s been a bit of a bonko day today, with me running around like the proverbial headless chicken. Tuesday is planning day, when we have our regular team meeting, so I spent the morning trying to work out what would be happening in the next week or so, which Commissioners are coming to town andContinue reading “Headless chicken”
London is a village
I’ve already discovered how small London can be due to various overlaps with people – Hannah and the architecture festival, for example. But it was literally a village on Saturday when I met my friend Kathryn and we took her son to the Holy Trinity Fete on Clapham Common. It was all a traditional EnglishContinue reading “London is a village”
Getting a message across
One of the problems I face here in London is a very sophisticated media structure and a very sophisticated audience. You see this immediately if you compare your average UK ad and your average Belgian ad. We in the UK focus much more on humour, or design or innovation. That’s a programme that we haveContinue reading “Getting a message across”
Doing something for consumers
We’ve created a bit of a buzz today with the visit of Consumer Affairs Commissioner Magdalena Kuneva – the FT picked up some of a speech that she’s giving today, where she says she wants to stop on-line retailers being able to limit sales to one country. So if I want to buy an computerContinue reading “Doing something for consumers”
Having to be all grown up…
One of the “head” reasons I had for taking this job in London (rather than the “heart” ones that went: want to live in London! Want to show the UK why the EU is a pretty good thing on the whole!) was that it would give me management experience. The Commission as an institution isn’tContinue reading “Having to be all grown up…”
What it’s all about
Today has been a little microcosm of what this job is going to be about. We started out with two “bonkers Brussels” stories, neither of which were correctly reported. Firstly was the one about “Brussels” (I love the way they say that) has banned dogs from the kitchen of good old British B&Bs. The TimesContinue reading “What it’s all about”
The renaissance of the bendy cucumber
There’s a great story floating around in the press today (Metro and Daily Star at the moment) about the EU bringing an end to rules on bendy cucumbers etc. And this one is no Euromyth, it’s true! The Commission has proposed to the Member States that we rationalise the marketing standards for fruit and vegContinue reading “The renaissance of the bendy cucumber”
Hayfever strikes
My weekend was wiped out by the sky-high pollen count, and given I was out in the country, it hit me hard. Still, it was lovely to see Dom, my brother. He’s just bought a house in Buckingham so I went to see that – it’s lovely and I think he and Esther (the blackContinue reading “Hayfever strikes”