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Times Online - How to solve the Italian Job, by Camilla Cavendish
The way to stop corruption is to shut down the EU’s crazy schemes and repatriate the cash

BRAVO! THE PRESIDENT of the EU has offered €60 million to French towns affected by riots, under the “framework of an urban programme”. All those disaffected youths can now train as urban consultants, split the fee between themselves and advise others how to milk the system. Voilà. That’s bound to be a bigger growth industry than replacing burnt-out Renaults.

Taxpayers might ask whether, if the EU has this kind of cash going spare, it would be better returned to them. But on Tuesday they were once again dismissed with a collective Gallic shrug. It is only a shame that we could not see the shoulders of Denis MacShane MP rising and falling on the radio, as he responded to the auditors’ refusal to sign off the EU budget for the eleventh year running. “Whaddya want,” was his gist, “an inspector for every subsidised sheep and goat? Get real.” Fine. If we can’t spend money wisely, we should stop handing it out.

You know, for an accountant, the rest of this reads like a kind of political/spy thriller, with lots of fast cars and double agents.