400 Cals or Perhaps 500...

It's all the rage, in Germany and in this country. Five days a week people eat what they want; on the other two they limit their intake of fuel to 400 calories or perhaps 500.

A healthy body in a healthy mind in a healthy nation. Don't ask me which comes first, but I believe the Romans, before the pillars of the Western half of their empire fell, thought it was a good idea.

Judicious slimming down is, by another name - kurzabeit - what premier German companies are doing. According to the Financial Times, at a time of fluctuating economic conditions the likes of BMW and Bosch don't resort to mass lay-offs and redundancies. Instead they reportedly reduce workers' hours, altering the lengths of shifts. Compensation payments are made.

They also have another trick up their sleeves. In an uncertain world, aggravated by the man-made crisis in the eurozone, Germans have replaced long-term planning with short-term scenarios. For example, if Greece finally slides under or Spain burns out, they move from plan A to plan B or perhaps plan C. I suppose you could call it eventuality planning.

I daresay UK companies smarter than the average bear market do this as well, though you might not think so from watching television news. The reality behind the presentation of reality is always more interesting.

Take the Prime Minister's long-awaited European Union speech, scheduled for this Friday. He's going to say that, of course, Britain wants and needs to be at the heart of Europe, influencing decisions about the community's economic future; but we also want to be masters of our own fate. 

Greater brain boxes than I have pointed out repeatedly that this is about as far from reality as Edward Heath's original claim that the European Economic Community was simply a common trading market.

My understanding is that the EU, far from being the source of primary legislation on trade, industry and commerce, as it once was, is now a canning factory processing ready-made laws and agreements made elsewhere by other international bodies based in New York, Washington, Geneva and Strasbourg and passed down the line to Brussels for packaging and labelling.

Being at the heart of the EU is no longer the point, contrary to the leonine assertions of Michael Heseltine and the Piglet-like squeaks of approval from Kenneth Clarke. The EU no longer does what it says on the tin. The contents of the tin and the wording have been supplied from other sources beyond the little world of Brussels.

People are hungry for the truth. I fear we are being fed a diet of worms.