Do as I say, not as I do

In October EU ministers and heads of state met under the Swedish EU Presidency to discuss how to fight global poverty and combat climate change.

The Swedish press reported over Christmas that the participants in these so-called European Development Days managed to clock up some £310,000 in limousine expenses alone during the five days that the conference lasted, providing yet another text-book example of how not to go about your business if you want citizens and the rest of the world to follow your "lead". The extensive use of limousines to ferry ministers to EU meetings where poverty and CO2 reductions are being discussed doesn't exactly send out the right signals..