This may be the twilight era of grand EU political ambitions, but great cultural plans are afoot elsewhere. A series for the BBC World Service will aim to "harmonise the humour of Europe." The programme's producer, Eugene Quinn, and a top British comedian will travel Europe testing the comedic taste in each country. The aim is to find one joke that all nations will find funny. Quinn has even been granted permission to tell the joke in the European parliament at the end of the year, to coincide with the end of Britain's presidency. A "laughometer" will be placed in the chamber to test just how funny a British-European wheeze can be.
Exaggerating Britain's shame?
Eagle-eyed readers of both the New York Review of Books and its London namesake will have noticed letters from television executive David Elstein taking both magazines to task for their reviews of Caroline Elkins's Britain's Gulag, a new book on the 1950s Kenyan Mau Mau uprising. As the title of her book suggests, Elkins, a young Harvard historian, argues that the scale of Kenyan death and incarceration at the hands of the British was far larger than official figures suggest. Elstein, however, checked Elkins's figures and analysis, and found them wanting.
His subsequent letters to both Reviews were published, but only after long delays. In the case of the NYRB, it was Neal Ascherson, author of the original review and an ex-colleague of Elstein's, who urged publication of the letter. Meanwhile, Bernard Porter, the LRB's reviewer, wrote to Elstein regretting that his original instinct to be more critical of Elkins did not make it into the published review.
So what makes Elstein such an expert on colonial history? The answer lies in a 2002 BBC television documentary on Mau Mau, based on Elkins's work, during the production of which a friend of Elstein's was treated very shoddily. Full details of the story in the next issue.
Villepin: joker or scratcher?
Many people believe that Dominique Galouzeau de Villepin, the new French prime minister, is a true-blooded aristocrat, writes Tim King. He has the elegant swept-back hair, the piercing blue eyes, the de-haut-en-bas nose that epitomise Old Europe. But apparently these attributes do not necessarily mean noble birth. According to genealogist Jean-Louis Beaucarnot, none of the prime minister's ancestors, however ancient, has ever been ennobled. Villepin is merely the name of the family property, the addition of la particule in such cases de rigeur. "Galouzeau," meanwhile, according to Beaucarnot, comes from the old French verb galer—to have or to make fun (hence the English word "gala"). Galouzeau was the surname given to the chap in the village who always made you laugh. Our research reveals that the medieval word galer meant to be constantly scratching, particularly to scratch the gale d'Espagne: the pox. Let's hope that the prime minister has inherited the former meaning. As the EU budget negotiations and the row over Britain's rebate rumble on, it's a talent he'll need. As for the latter, it was à la mode in the 19th century for a poet to be so afflicted, but it's passé now.
Gaelic pride
Irish Gaelic recently became the 21st official working language of the EU, when Dutch objections were overcome after an all-night lobbying session. After the translation headaches caused by last year's enlargement, which doubled the number of EU working languages to 20, some might say the union needs a new language like it needs, er, a new constitution. But the onward march doesn't stop here—bolstered by the Irish success, Luxembourgish campaigners are now gearing up for no 22.
olivermorton
Congratulations to Prospect regular Oliver Morton, who has been honoured for his decades-long service to the planetary-science journalism community by having an asteroid named after him. "(10716) Olivermorton," discovered in 1983 by Morton's friend Ted Bowell, is in no danger of colliding with its earthbound namesake, as it is firmly entrenched in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. But it is 10km across—bigger, as Morton points out, than Mount Everest.
The view from the Bosphorus
Is Turkey's EU membership sunk after Europe's vote? No, said the Turkish government; yes, said most of its press. Talks should still begin in October—even Angela Merkel says she will not veto them if she is then German chancellor. The government hangs its hopes on the fact that every country that has begun accession negotiations has eventually made it in. But word is that the EU commission will in November publish a stinker of a report on Turkey's reform efforts.
