I would like to share a new glossy European Union book with you. It?s aimed at small children and it is called ?Mr and Mrs MEP ? and their helpers?.
This kind of propaganda aimed at the young usually achieves little more than self-parody, never more so than in the EU, especially so when produced by the European Parliament.
Here are a selection of the colouring exercises and rosy-spectacled insights into the life of MEPs.
Contrast this first colouring exercise with the reality of MEPs arriving at the end of a working day to pocket a tax-free ?258 per diem allowance (no receipts needed), as caught on television by a Dutch journalist. He is pushed and slapped by MEPs.
The limos are real, MEPs share them, senior euro-deputies can choose their own (?). Former presidents of European Parliament get their own personal VIP car for their entire career.
It?s 9.30 in the morning. Mr and Mrs MEP are now in their office working. Mr MEP wants to send a letter but he doesn?t have an envelope. The assistant brings him an envelope. Mr MEP puts the letter in the envelope and gives it to the messenger. The messenger will deliver it to the postman.?
A variation of the old changing a lightbulb joke. Question: how many people does it take to send a letter in the EU assembly? Answer: Four, an MEP, an assistant, a messenger and the postal service.
This is a fine example of MEP-style productivity in an EU institution that employs legions of support staff, often much more poorly paid than the gravy training MEPs or parliament admin officials, who are keener on outsourcing than actually working.
Each and every MEP ? there are 754 of them ? gets an annual staffing allowance worth around ?220,000, at a cost to taxpayers of ?160 million a year. The parliament also employs over 6,200 full-time civil servants.
MEPs do eat vegetables. There is, indeed, a vegetarian option and salad bar in the members? restaurants. They are also know for finer dining but perhaps small children would ask awkward questions about foie gras or vintage wines.
Once a month, on a Friday, 25 trucks leave Strasbourg to make the 220-mile return journey to Brussels. The fleet carries 4,000 trunks of office documents for MEPs, officials and interpreters.
The cost of the ?travelling circus? is over ?150 million a year (British taxpayer?s share of the cost is ?28 million).
You?ll remember that Mr MEP made his speech on ?protection of the environment?, a favourite preachy topic for euro-deputies who are keen to tell the rest of us how much in the way of CO2 we are not allowed to pollute the world with.
Well, the Strasbourg trip annually generates almost 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions for a parliament that boasts it is the ?most environmentally aware assembly in the world?.
It may be "environmentally aware" but this colouring book shows that the European Parliament is among the most painfully un-self aware institutions in the world. The EU assembly has a budget of ?1.4 billion a year, with recent big spending increases on self-promotion, like this colouring book.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR! ITS IDEAL FOR ALL GOOD WOOD BURNERS AS KINDLING..
If my child comes home with this i will be making an appointment to see the school..
This kind of propaganda aimed at the young usually achieves little more than self-parody, never more so than in the EU, especially so when produced by the European Parliament.
Here are a selection of the colouring exercises and rosy-spectacled insights into the life of MEPs.
Contrast this first colouring exercise with the reality of MEPs arriving at the end of a working day to pocket a tax-free ?258 per diem allowance (no receipts needed), as caught on television by a Dutch journalist. He is pushed and slapped by MEPs.
The limos are real, MEPs share them, senior euro-deputies can choose their own (?). Former presidents of European Parliament get their own personal VIP car for their entire career.
It?s 9.30 in the morning. Mr and Mrs MEP are now in their office working. Mr MEP wants to send a letter but he doesn?t have an envelope. The assistant brings him an envelope. Mr MEP puts the letter in the envelope and gives it to the messenger. The messenger will deliver it to the postman.?
A variation of the old changing a lightbulb joke. Question: how many people does it take to send a letter in the EU assembly? Answer: Four, an MEP, an assistant, a messenger and the postal service.
This is a fine example of MEP-style productivity in an EU institution that employs legions of support staff, often much more poorly paid than the gravy training MEPs or parliament admin officials, who are keener on outsourcing than actually working.
Each and every MEP ? there are 754 of them ? gets an annual staffing allowance worth around ?220,000, at a cost to taxpayers of ?160 million a year. The parliament also employs over 6,200 full-time civil servants.
MEPs do eat vegetables. There is, indeed, a vegetarian option and salad bar in the members? restaurants. They are also know for finer dining but perhaps small children would ask awkward questions about foie gras or vintage wines.
Once a month, on a Friday, 25 trucks leave Strasbourg to make the 220-mile return journey to Brussels. The fleet carries 4,000 trunks of office documents for MEPs, officials and interpreters.
The cost of the ?travelling circus? is over ?150 million a year (British taxpayer?s share of the cost is ?28 million).
You?ll remember that Mr MEP made his speech on ?protection of the environment?, a favourite preachy topic for euro-deputies who are keen to tell the rest of us how much in the way of CO2 we are not allowed to pollute the world with.
Well, the Strasbourg trip annually generates almost 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions for a parliament that boasts it is the ?most environmentally aware assembly in the world?.
It may be "environmentally aware" but this colouring book shows that the European Parliament is among the most painfully un-self aware institutions in the world. The EU assembly has a budget of ?1.4 billion a year, with recent big spending increases on self-promotion, like this colouring book.
NOW YOU KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR! ITS IDEAL FOR ALL GOOD WOOD BURNERS AS KINDLING..
If my child comes home with this i will be making an appointment to see the school..
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