Would you trust this man with birch twigs?

SPRING cleaning by European standards has been quite effective this year, if the efforts of Ireland and Finland are anything to go by.
Whilst the resignation of Bertie Ahern brought vomit-inducing platitudes from politicians whose own Teflon coatings have started to wear a little thin, the sacking of Finnish foreign minister, Ilkka Kanerva, was the [...]

What about the pies, though?

They’re at it again. Europe’s two proudest nations are at war. Over who has UN-quality food…
The contest is between Italy and France, and the battle is over whose food should go on the UN’s World Heritage List.
The List was, until now, exclusively for solid, physical things such as the Egyptian Pyramids, the Great Wall of [...]

Anyone for an Alsace ‘amster?

Read original Guardian story

It is the most unlikely story.
The country known for its more than laissez-faire attitude towards animal welfare, where kittens are not kittens but ‘chatons virtuels’ and duly drowned for their inconvenience, has turned over a new leaf.
France love hamsters. Fact. And let’s not have any jokes about the fact that hamsters, [...]