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One of the half-truths about the EU is that it’s very hierarchical. In fact, as far as the Commission is concerned, it’s a very flat management structure, with only three formal tiers of management, whereas in the UK civil service you might have a dozen of them. Directors-General are in charge of the department, and Read more
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I hate shopping. Unless it is for books, food or drink. Browsing from shop to shop is not a leisure activity; it is a form of penance. Loitering in a shop makes my back hurt. Loitering in a gallery or museum, at least there is the consolation that your mind may be expanding while your body aches. With shopping, you are conscious of time Read more
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On Sunday night we watched In Bruges, an amusing, slightly saccharine movie, a bit spoiled by overcooked anti-americanism and stylisation of pretty Flemish girls with an improbable command of colloquial English. The star turn is Ralph Fiennes’ anguished ramrod Mr Big character, Harry Waters. His facial expression, while listening to Ken unpack his personality over a Read more
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Euroscepticism is an English problem not a UK problem. And, I would venture, it is even more accurate to view this as an English non-urban white issue. It stems from a latent sense of superiority and xenophobia, in spite of the fact that our economic and political clout has been steadily declining for over a century, and Read more
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Yesterday afternoon was spent on the green fringes of Brussels, first playing football at our home pitch near the wooded farmlands between Overijse and La Hulpe, then joining the Polish ladies around the Étangs de Boisforts. Mum, soft blond-topped, was pushing the stroller along the bank of the lake into the sunshine, when I arrived, Read more
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Late last night I hired a Boris bike from our lodgings on Long Lane, Borough, and pedalled through the drizzly neon streets, passing St George the Martyr, curving along Marshalsea Street, onto Southwark Street, its course paralleling that of the Thames, on my right the site of the monstrosity which was St Christopher House where Read more
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Jamie Oliver has courted righteous indignation among the commentariat for his recent interview with the Radio Times about his next TV series, ‘Money Saving Meals’. I have not been able to access the actual interview on the internet, but his eminently quotable quotes have been widely disseminated. I’m not judgmental, but I’ve spent a lot Read more
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John Thomas is the next Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. One late evening in the office in the Royal Courts of Justice, when Nicholas Phillips was Chief, a plummy-voiced colleague put it to me that there were ‘Only four people who know what’s going on here’; other than ‘chiefy’ himself, this included Lord Justice Read more
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I adore the month of May. Nature untrammelled. Spring finally appeared in mid-April with the year’s first few days of warm weather. Suddenly at dawn there rose up a great cathartic symphony of eager tweeters, and best of all the lusty-throated blackbirds, whose lonely melodies make your heart melt. The gigantic horse chestnut tree at Read more
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The EU’s economic crisis is in danger of becoming an endemic political crisis. Popular acquiescence – there was never enthusiasm – towards the European project is fracturing, as the citizens of the south realise that they never voted for austerity, those of the north that they never voted for bail outs; Eurosceptics harrumph around the Read more
rooting around for grubs in diverse soils
ofthewedge 