European Parliament
In Brussels I have a free moment so I visit the European Union - my picture of the Espace Leopold complex which is one of two EU meeting places (the other in Strasbourg, France which owns twelve-four day plenary sessions a year). Leopold serves for committee meetings, political groups and complementary plenary sessions. Having two spots seems silly when one considers A) the cost of relocating staff offices for each session; and B) I pay for it. But this a small grumble against the grand representation of our European ideals, which are founded on four treaties of necessity and brotherhood: European Coal and Steel (1952); European Economic Community (1957); European Atomic Energy; and the European Union (1992 and ongoing). The EU's success owes a lot to the unusual way it works - unusual because the countries that make up the EU ('member states') remain independent sovereign nations but pool their sovereignty in order to gain a strength and world influence none of them could have on their own. This stops short of being a federation, like the US, but is much more than an organisation for cooperation between governments, like the United Nations. This means, in practice, that the member states delegate some of their decision0making powers to shared institutions they have created, so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level. I won't go into the requirements of being in the club, but generally members must adhere to strict economic ratios which allow the common currency and subscribe to a set of values, watered down so everybody can participate excluding Turkey. Who, coincidentally, is Muslim. On the building, I admit to finding it sterile, overbearing and even mean-spirited; efficient comes to mind and London's Broadgate or NY's Midtown have similar glass-steel structures that scream "power" and its little brother "arrogance." But again, the EU is one of the world's great institutions and on a nice day I reflect on its importance rather than the architecture.
“They [black children] might think they’ve got a pretty jump shot or a pretty good flow, but our kids can’t all aspire to be LeBron or Lil Wayne. I want them aspiring to be scientists and engineers, doctors and teachers, not just ballers and rappers. I want them aspiring to be a Supreme Court justice. I want them aspiring to be president of the United States of America.”
-- Barack Obama, 16/7/2009
Older fellow watches Madeleine jump from a seven foot fence into some mud: "That is not very lady-like."
Madeleine: "I am not a lady."
