SIX OF THE BEST...

Fog in the Channel - Europe cut off. Our friends in the European Union Food Policy Squad have a long and chequered history of harebrained decisions affecting our daily lives. Most people recall the EU directive requiring bananas to be `free from abnormal curvature or malformation.` Then in 1988, the EU ruled that cucumbers must bend only by 10mm per 10cm in a directive supposedly to help packaging and transport.

Another directive - in 1979 - ruled that carrots should be classified as fruit because the Portuguese apparently made jam out of them and in 2003 it was only a public backlash that prevented a Euro-wide ban on smokey bacon crisps. And so the madness goes on, for today we learn of an EU proposal that will ban eggs, oranges and bread rolls being sold by quantity. So no more `half a dozen eggs, please.` Instead, they will be sold by weight (in grams of course.)

Most sane people, like the British Retail Consortium, the Food Standards Agency, the editor of The Grocer magazine and the director of the Bakers Federation are opposed to this move, not just because it is plain daft but also because of the additional costs which will be incurred by the industry in changing packaging, labelling and the need to weigh each box of eggs or oranges or rolls before they are put on sale - and you can be sure the extra costs will be passed on the the egg, orange and roll-loving customers.

All those years ago when the EU was formed, I think we expected EU countries would come together to tackle the big issues like defence, trade and so on. As the EU state has grown out of all proportion and grown so far away from the reality of those of us who pay for it, it constantly proves incapable of solving those big issues (mainly for fear of upsetting French farmers) and so it seeks to demonstrate some `purpose` by introducing daft rules like this one. It`s gone beyond a yolk.