To CAP it all off

Last night on the BBC , there was an interesting programme about the EU budget; what the problems are, where it's going, how we're going to get there.

You know the drill.

British politician attacks French for not wanting to budge on the CAP, because they see huge agricultural subsidies as a bad way to ensure economic growth.

French politician attacks British for wanting to impress the market model onto France which would destroy their cultural heritage. And commenting on how governments should spend money on behalf of its citizens to provide good services, etc...

The irony is, of course, that you have a "left-wing" British government teaching basic free-market economics to a "right-wing" French one.

In the end I suppose everyone's right in their own way, which is generally Europe's problem. What suits one country doesn't necessarily suit another.

A more freed up market works, just look at Spain's economy at the turn of the millennium. However, being honest the British would prefer the French railway system, but that is heavily subsidised. That said, the director general of the CBI has said that £300bn needs to be invested in public transport in the next ten years. The catch is, the goverment (i.e. Mr Joe Taxpayer) should foot two thirds of the bill. Hardly reaping the benefits of a privatised system!

The French are right to want to protect their heritage, but there's precious little point in creating something if noone wants to buy it, n'est-ce pas?

The presenter's argument seemedto be that we should follow the nordic model more. The example he gave was Finland, who in the 1990s had a goverment who successfully improved the economy with a philosophy of privatisation, whilst maintaining core welfare services at a high level. This policy actually meant that the particular government was booted out after only one term in office, but that had at least managed to turn a bad economic stiuation around.People in Finland do pay high taxes, but they feel that they all see the benefits.

A lot of Britain's hopes for a budget agreement appear to rest on the fact that the "Anglo-Saxon" deregulated market model seems to be working to great success in the new former Eastern-bloc members of the EU. If the balance of Europe has truly shifted eastwards, and the ideals championed by the British can be imposed on the finance negotiations, then maybe some common ground can be found.

Ne comptez pas trop là-dessus! (Don't count on it!)

24 hour party people

It's finally here.

No, not the day of final judgement, armageddon and all that. But the day the British establishment introduced 24 hour licensing.

Just when you thought excessive drinking in this country couldn't get any more, well, excessive, the government goes and does this.

A toast, therefore, to Mr Blair...

Personally, I'm all in favour of it. But something tells me it's not going to be a magical solution to all of our alcohol related problems.

A lot of people seem to think that by being able to go into a pub at any time of day or night will somehow create some mythical "café culture", just like in the rest of Europe. Or at least that Europe that British people seem to reminisce about on the flight home.

It's just not gonna happen!

Last year I was in a bar in downtown Madrid at silly o'clock, when I ended up talking to a fellow Englishman. Upon discovering that I actually lived in Madrid, he asked me how I coped with the pubs being open late. To which I answered something along the lines of the key to surviving four o'clock in the morning was not to go out until 12. "Ah", he said. " That'll be where we went wrong yesterday. We started drinking at seven, just as we would at home, so you can imagine the state we were in by four a.m."

Something tells me we are going to see a lot of this, people starting drinking at the same time, but just finishing late. At least until the novelty wears off.

There is an underlying cultural thing here. In many parts of the world, having a drink forms part of the night out. In this country, having a drink IS the night out. We don't just ask our mates "Do you fancy going out tonight?" The question is more precise: "Do you fancy going out for a drink tonight?" (I will get off my soap box for a moment and admit that I'm as guilty of this as the next man!)

Until this changes, if indeed it can change, the new licencing law is likely to make this situation worse, rather than improve it.

Interestingly, some pubs and hospitality groups are not in favour of 24 hour opening saying that massive profits are unlikely as in many cases the costs of being open later are likely to be more than the money that is made. And some people fear that it could lead to an increase in the alread high rate of mouth cancer and alcohol induced violence and accidents.

We'll have to wait and see whether it turns out to have been a good idea or not. But, the drinking problem is probably going to get worse before it gets better.

Cheers!

Mrs M

As one Iron Lady slowly rusts off this mortal coil (80 years young this year) another one takes centre stage, well almost...

As Angela Merkel heads off around Europe hours after being elected Kanzlerin the question is whether we are now at a turning point for Germany and the Union.

Her first stop may be Paris, but the new Chancellor is clearly not as keen on the Franco-German axis as her predecessor was. Her policies lie in much closer links with Britain and the US. She is, as Le Figaro puts it, much more of an Atlanticist. Not, of course, that she can afford to turn her back on France.

We will, in all likelyhood, see government changes in the three other big European countries (France, Italy and the UK) in the next three years, meaning that this could prove to be a major crossroads in the European project. After the failed constitution, there is a need for fresh impetus to kick start the Union, and new faces in charge may be the answer. But it is unlikely to be smooth sailing.

Merkel's problems, if and when they arise, are most likely to come from within her Grand Coalition. The reality of having to backdown or at least find common ground on most of the major policy areas could make life difficult for her, and a much mentioned fear is that this will have a negative result on the German econony and consequentially Europe's.

Spain's El Periodico is convinced she will have her hands full, After all, she will have to "revive the Berlin-Paris axis, snap the EU out of its paralysis, mend relations with the USA and return to European activism".

Time will tell if she lives up to the challenge. Mrs Thatcher lasted 10 years. Typically grand coalitions don't last long, but if she can keep it together, maybe the history books will look kindly on Angela Merkel.

As Czech newpaper Mlada Fronta Dnes puts it: "She has been elected chancellor - now she has to become one."

George "burning" Bush

Everyone seems to have put a picture of Dubya on their blog today. Far be it for me to be different...

Continental Drifter

Ali Magoudi: "How do you react against such an intransigent women?"

François Mitterand: "What do you expect? You can't win a struggle against the insular syndrome of an unbridled Englishwoman. To provoke a nuclear war for small islands inhabited by three sheep who are as hairy as they are frozen! Fortunately I yielded to her. Otherwise, I assure you, The metallic index finger of the lady would press the button." (Rendez-vous: La psychanalyse de François Mitterand, by Ali Magoudi as published in The Sunday Times, November 12, 2005)

No prizes for guessing who the woman is...

I must admit, I've always had a fondness for Mitterand. Not for any political sympathies you understand, but you have to admire someone who can rule a country and yet retain such an adventurous private life. Private being the key word here. Much of it has only come to light in the years since his death almost ten years ago.

Comparisons with the Lewinsky débâcle, which almost ended Bill Clinton's presidency are obvious. Mitterand's illegitimate daughter only really entered the public domain when she appeared at his funeral, and even now people don't really seem to use it as a basis to question his presidential decision making. I saw a film a few months back (Le promeneur du Champ de Mars) which detailed the illness of Mitterand during the last few years of his presidency, giving the impression of a much weakened character, who still fought to maintain his authority.

I am reminded of the Michael Caine/Steve Martin film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In it, Steve Martin is in a jail on the French Riviera having had an romantic liaison. Not understanding why he's been arrested, he says to the officer on duty: "I thought it was normal for Frenchmen to have affairs." To which the officer replies: "To have an affair is indeed French. To get caught is American!"

I'm sure Clinton would agree...

In another excerpt from the book which has been written by Ali Magoudi, psychoanalyst and would be confident of the former president, mentions how for many of the latter years of the presidency he didn't live with his wife, a fact which most of the country was blissfully unaware.

His relations with Mrs T seemed to have been somewhat warmer!:

Magoudi wanted to know how his patient felt about being “symbolically emasculated”, as the psychoanalyst put it. “You mean that in the face of such aggressiveness you remain passive?” he asked.

“I will have the last word,” Mitterrand replied. “Her island, it’s me who will destroy it. Her island, I swear that soon it will no longer be one. I will take my revenge. I will tie England to Europe, despite its natural tendency for isolation. How? I will build a tunnel under the Channel. Yes. I will succeed where Napoleon III failed.”

Clearly delighted with his vision, Mitterrand had no doubt he would persuade Thatcher to accept the tunnel. “I will flatter her shopkeeper spirit. I will tell her that the welding to the Continent will not cost the crown one kopeck. She will not resist this resonant argument.” (Source as before)

Good bit of European dialogue for you there.

As cool as a cucumber

I was in the supermarket last night, and wanted to buy a cucumber. (Sounds like a bad joke, but trust me on this one!)

The cucumber was "Made in Spain". As chance would have it, I was with a Spanish person who said: "Cucumbers in Spain are not like that. Perhaps they're grown for export?"

This started me thinking...

Most of the fruit and veg here looks exactly the same as how a child would draw it, i.e. a cucumber is dark green, tomatoes are bright red, lemons are yellow. They tend to have a perfect homogenous shape and size.

In Spain (and a lot of the continent I might add), most of the fruit and veg is not perfect. The cucumber basket in the supermarket will contain a variety of sizes shapes and colours. This is true of all fruits and veg.

The latest craze here appears to be organic stuff, but if even if you look in that section of the shop you still find that most of the stuff conforms to this idea of how the food should look. Curiously enough, in Madrid last year an English friend commented that she didn't particularly like the look of the fruit and veg. Maybe it's just too natural...

Last night on TV, Jamie Oliver, that great ambassador of British cuisine, continued his adventures around Italy. He went to a school and showed us all how wonderful Italian school dinners are. He's spent most of the series slagging off the British attitude to food, saying how wonderful people are in Italy. A three year old can recognise an aubergine (!) Last night, he finally said something of note. The British are much more open when it comes to trying new food.

In the summer I was in Rome eating a rather good ice-cream, I admit, when a group of Spaniards walked passed saying: "Como en España, no se come por ningún lado", which means there's no food like Spanish food. Oliver's programme has shown, in every episode (apparently to the disgust of the Italian Embassy in London), the lack of willingness to try new things. They appear to like things cooked the way they've always been cooked.

Not so here. (And I think I'd agree, although I am probably laying myself wide open by admitting that. I am in no way saying that the whole of the continent is closed to new culinary experiences, but have found it to be true on many occasions.)

So, all British food is bad, just the same as it always rains in London, and all men wear Bowler hats (I've left mine at home today!). This was perhaps true, but it has come on it leaps and bounds. I once had it pointed out to me, that if you think of what can be grown naturally here, then it is predominantly quite boring things such as the potato. This means that the staple diet is going to be based along those lines. Quite a good argument if you ask me.

Not anymore, with more and more exotic things you've never heard of being imported from far flung places you've only dreamt about.

As well as bright green cucumbers from Spain.

Eurostarlette

Hands up if you've ever travelled on Eurostar. I have. Several times in fact.

I must say it is a most civilised way of travelling. Plenty of space to get up and walk around. No harsh check in, at least if you don't fit into a profile- although I'm sure customs and excise would deny any such profile exists.

On the journey into London you majestically fly accross the northern French countryside at 300 kmh, outrunning storms, stopping only to pick up new passengers, only to get thrown out of your seat as the brakes are brutally applied coming out of the tunnel into south-east London, sorry Kent. This is, of course, soon to be rectified with the great "Channel Tunnel Link"- the first new line to be laid in Britain in more than a century! Which will bring the high-speed trains into the centre of the capital. At least the new link goes into King's Cross rather than Waterloo- not the best name for a station for trains arriving from France and Belgium...

But this isn't meant to be an analysis of the UK rail system.

As you wait for your train on a cold wet London morning an exotic voice from distant climes travels through the air to bang on your ear drum. Anyone who's waited in the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo has, I'm sure, noticed this.

The man who makes the announcement in English sounds like the speaking clock.

The voice that follows, however, is a sultry French female voice. Who is this woman? Where can I meet her?

Sexy enough to make you swap your bacon and eggs for a pain au chocolat. Even if you don't understand it (word to the wise, it's the same as the previous announcement!), it makes you want to break through customs and board the train. Only to suffer the three hour journey into central Paris, wondering if this woman will actually be there waiting for you on the platform at the gare du Nord. Once in Paris, you find, to your immense dissappointment, that it's her older brother who's making the announcements. The dream is shattered!

Ah! Paris!

Of course, it's not all la vie en rose...

If something goes wrong, you'll notice how a French team will say something like "Due to running problems in England, ...". In the same situation, an English team will say something like "Due to a cow on the track in France, ...".

Apparently, digging the tunnel, they had problems meeting in the middle. And, rumour has is the only reason "Concorde" was spelt with an "e" was because, without it, the name was considered to be too Anglo-Saxon. Concord, indeed!!!

Supposedly, back in the good ol' days of Empire, the Times of London ran a headline which said:

"Fog in the Channel; Continent cut off."

Now, at least, we can go under the fog, but there's still a barrier in many people's minds.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Waterloo...

Eurocynic

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside...

What is it about the British that makes them eurosceptic?

Actually, for me the more important question is "why does everyone like to portray the British as eurosceptic?"

Granted many of the residents of this island nation are wary about things that come from "Europe", but we are far from being alone in that.

We don't have the Euro, but neither do Denmark or Sweden, and, in any case, wherever you go in the Eurozone people moan about it. In yesterday's paper it said that it would be good for Italy to go back to the Lira, to relaunch the economy.

We won't give up the rebate, but the French don't want to have their CAP subsidies reduced.

So who's right? And why, therefore, are these other countries not eurosceptic, at least not publicly. After all, the French and the Dutch did vote no to the constitution, n'est-ce pas? And one of the possible reasons the constitution was ratified in Spain was that the Spanish government didn't give enough information to the people.

In many ways, that is the problem in Britain. Much of the information the British public has about the EU comes from non-official sources. The EU says that it's the job of the national governments to inform their citizens, but here the tabloids seem to be more present than any government information on the EU. And that information tends not be supportive...

Personally I think it's all down to food! Who likes Brussels sprouts anyway?

But, seriously...

Ok, so the real reason for this blog is that is is a part of my MA in International Journalism course.

The theory is that this will help me with my dissertation- not due until next September, so I'd better get a move on.

I already have a working title which is:

"British Eurosceptism, or what has Europe done for us anyway?"

but the problem is that even though I find it a fascinating aspect of the national psyche, I need to find an angle. I'm sure that'll come and, hopefully, this website will help a bit.

My other idea was:

"Chateauvieux?: Why French wine is not as good as New World plonk."

I thought I might be able to get a few good tasting sessions at some vineyard in the South of France.. But, I hadn't reckoned with having to fork out for the research trip, and think that ultimately am better off (at least financially) playing a bit closer to home.

This is the plan at the moment, but it may change, and I may use the site for my own personal gospels as well. You'll just have to wait and find out, you lucky people...

'Tis far better to have blogged and lost, than not to have blogged at all!

Better late than never...

I've always resisted having a blog, mainly because I've never been completely convinced that people would be interested in what I say or write. Still having a blog is a very twenty-first century kind of thing, so it's time to get with the programme and go global.

Watch this space...