Nursery World - To the point... (100)

Our weekly columnist Beatrix Campbell sees the new presidency of the EU taking a far from modernising approach So, the prime minister becomes the president. All the subliminal legacies of patriotism, empire, and lost but not forgotten greatness swirl around Britain's presidential stint in Europe over the next six months.

So, the prime minister becomes the president. All the subliminal legacies of patriotism, empire, and lost but not forgotten greatness swirl around Britain's presidential stint in Europe over the next six months.

Apart from promising to 'modernise' the European Union, Britain is also promising to block the European directive on working time - 'a very important test', as foreign secretary Jack Straw says.

There has been no great debate in Britain about working time. Nor about its cardinal significance in shaping domestic life, childcare, and the relationship between public and private life. And yet the Government mobilises the European working time directive as a weapon in its crusade for a free market, rather than a social Europe.

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