I find our EU masters in Brussels a constant source of amusement (and frustration too – there’s little doubt that if I had a brick in the living room it would have gone through the TV screen by now).

Last month they announced that ‘ordinary’ light bulbs must be phased out by 2010 and replaced with energy saving ones. I bought four energy saving bulbs on special offer in a ‘green’ moment a couple of years ago. I still have them but they are in my spare bulbs, plugs, adaptors and telephone chargers drawer. I stopped using them after a few weeks because they give out such a ghastly bright, white light, uncomfortable to the eyes and similar to the fluorescent tubes you get in offices and beloved by some Spanish restaurants which I tend to avoid.

Last month there were newspaper reports that energy saving bulbs give out harmful UV radiation and that the UK Health Protection Agency warned that they could even cause a form of sunburn. They urged people not to spend more than one hour a day with their skin less than a foot from a lamp. They said that one of the problems is that the new bulbs do not produce as much heat as conventional bulbs and so are often used closer to the body. At very close quarters – less than an inch – they emit the same amount of radiation as you would get walking in strong summer sunshine.

This warning was issued just one day before the EU edict so you would have thought the EU might have sat on the matter for a while to give everybody time to forget that they were harmful before they issued the order that we were to be compelled to use them. One thing is certain: before the end of 2009 I shall go out and buy a life time’s supply of energy wasting bulbs and bask in their warmer, more yellow light until the end of my days.

On a much more serious – and tragic – note, the EU’s communication problems are nothing compared to that of Torrox Court. You have to wonder what idiot there decided to send out notice of a restraining order to Nerja Police and Guardia by post (Spanish post too)? The result was the tragic murder of a 25-year-old Argentinian girl at work on a bar by the church on Nerja’s Balcón de Europa (see news story here).

An earlier restraining order on the ex-boyfriend on September 1 was at least faxed but what was wrong with the telephone on both occasions? This was a brutal murder that might have been avoided, though quite how the two police that escorted her to work that morning decided she would be safe simply because she was at work is another mystery. I don’t know whether it’s possible to sue a court for negligence but if I were one of the victim’s relatives, I would be finding out.

Anyway, our deepest sympathy goes out to them for their tragic loss and our praise to the passer-by who bravely intervened and hit the killer with a chair.