News story of the day

The EU is the most endearing political organization in the world; if you're in any doubt, just click here. On the front page of the BBC News website, under the headline "Shootout at the EU-Americas summit - but it's only penalties," they report on a charity football match involving Alejandro Toledo, the president of Peru, Commission president Jose Barroso, Wolfgang Schuessel (the Austrian Chancellor) and a selection of European prime ministers including Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey (who, we are told, is a former professional footballer and had "a strong game"). They were raising money for street kids in Romania and Moldova.

Never before have I heard of such a thing. Obviously Blair wasn't involved - he's happier just having successful sportspeople round to Downing Street for a bottle of Beck's in the back garden. Politics should definitely have more occasions like this, it does a great deal to humanise the actors, speaks of a certain balance in people's lives and worldview, and raises money for those street kids too.

[N.B. no more below]