Monthly Archives: January 2013

Chairman, Minister, I have been asked to stand in for my colleague Mr. Agnew. You may be relieved to note his absence, but I shall do my best to fill the gap. You have only six months, Mr. Coveney, to … Continue reading →

I’ve just attended a breakfast briefing from the Club du Bois, an umbrella group for the European woodworking and wood panel (chipboard) industries, and heard from their Austrian President Ladislaus Döry, and I’d like to tell you about it.  But … Continue reading →

I’ve been hearing for some time about the serious problems which Germany is experiencing with its green policies — and indeed the problems they are creating for adjacent countries like the Czech Republic, which has to cope with power surges … Continue reading →

When I lived and worked in Korea, the country’s auto industry was exporting around half a million cars a year, and importing around 500.  The reason was not difficult to find.  The Korean tax code was notoriously vaguely worded, and … Continue reading →

Early this morning I Tweeted, in an off-hand and tangential sort of way, “I wonder how much good hunting country will be bisected by HS2?”.  So inevitably, when I went on BBC Five Live an hour or so later, to … Continue reading →

The Tories have their tails up.  Their Prime Minister has promised an In-Out referendum.  They’re up in the opinion polls, and UKIP, against a strong recent trend, is down.  Tory back-benchers and Party members and activists feel that at last … Continue reading →

I am old enough to remember when our countryside was graced with innumerable elm trees — unmistakable as they stood against the sky.  They were celebrated in art and in poetry (“The buzzing of innumerable bees in immemorial elms”). Then … Continue reading →

One of the reasons that led me (and many others like me) to give up on the Conservative Party was their extraordinary ability to tell a robust Eurosceptic story — and then go and do the opposite. I well remember, … Continue reading →

Eija Riita Korhola is a Finnish MEP first elected, as I was, in 1999. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/performsearch.html She has taken a keen interest in energy issues, and I was particularly struck by her recent blog on climate.  I have to share it … Continue reading →

Stephen Odell, presumably in his Volvo days I have a vague recollection that I had dinner with Stephen Odell, now CEO of Ford Europe, in Brussels a few years ago. If memory serves, he was extremely bright, switched-on and agreeable, … Continue reading →

  It is too early to draw definitive lessons from the Algerian hostage-taking.  There are too many loose ends.  But nonetheless we can see the outline of some conclusions.  It seems to me that there are two questions.  First, how … Continue reading →

Public appeal calls for suspension of the EU’s hugely expensive Climate & Energy Package http://www.affordable-energy.eu Concerned citizens from across the European Union are calling for lower energy prices, and for the suspension of the EU’s Climate and Energy Package, which … Continue reading →

Britain has been scandalised by the news that many “beef-burgers” sold in major supermarkets contain traces of other meats, including pork and — shock horror — horse!  Reportedly some Tesco burgers had 29% horse meat.  Cue innumerable horse-jokes and puns … Continue reading →

    Plenary Speech Jan 15th Mr. President:  It seems that Chancellor Faymann understands some of the problems that the EU is facing.  But his solution is ‘More Europe”.  This is the triumph of hope over experience, of ideological prejudice … Continue reading →

Try to imagine 350,000 vehicle movements, mostly lorries, in three years, down a ten-foot-wide country lane with few passing places.  That’s over 300 a day, every day, including weekends.  Plus 120,000 tons of rock and hardcore to provide a foundation … Continue reading →