The gravy train

Far from being the worst crime of Soviet Russia but symbolically one of its most sickening aspects was the Zil lane: not only did the party apparatchiks have their own cars but a special bit of the road apportioned to them so they didn’t get stuck in jams with the hoi polloi they were supposed to be representing.

Now European apparatchiks have their own train: from Brussels to Strasbourg for the pointless and expensive rotation of the parliament. It is more luxurious than the standard train and a return ticket costs twice as much: 220 euros (£175). Only MEPs can go on it. It is paid for, naturally, by the grateful taxpayer.

They work for you, remember.