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 →