Free Republic

EU officials are off sick three times more than the average British worker, it was revealed last night. According to official figures, European Commission officials took an average of 14.6 days off sick last year—triple the amount taken by British workers in the private sector. One in seven staff were absent from more than 20 days. In contrast, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry found British staff working in the private sector took around five sick days a year. The figures also showed European officials even outstripped Britain’s civil servants and public sector staff—who took half as many...

(The de Feijters on the dyke protecting their farm) A photograph of a grinning boy, riding a toy tractor, has pride of place in the kitchen of Aarnout and Magda de Feijter, the owners of a 148-acre farm in the Dutch province of Zeeland. The picture is of their first grandson, Louis, and the de Feijters have always dreamed that he will one day take over the expanse of wind-rippled flax fields that has been in their family since 1835. But there are other plans. In the name of European Union environmental directives, their farm is earmarked for flooding -...