THE MOTHER OF ALL CONSULTATIONS: Most European Commission consultations donâ™t rate a Playbook mention. When they come by the dozen, and feature an unprecedented list of media partners, we pay attention. A new set of consultations was launched this week on the impact of the digital world on jobs, health, government and democracy, privacy, security, artificial intelligence, net neutrality and big data. The consultations were conducted for the Commission by the firm REIsearch in partnership with El PaÃs, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Guardian, Il Sole 24 Ore, La Libre Belgique, Gazeta Wyborcza, Luxemburger Wort, Público, the Lancet, Cell, and Der Standard. Whatâ™s innovative is that millions more will now be prompted to fill in the survey. One the other hand, there are 19 EU countries that arenâ™t home to one of the consultationâ™s media partners, which range from business newspapers to medical journals. Only one is based in a country that joined the EU after 1995. The version of the survey that Playbook answered featured strong language. For example, 10 questions in a row asked participants to rate whether the internet would âtotally changeâ a given part of society. Respondents are free to disagree that the internet would âtotally changeâ employment or finance and so on, but the suggestion that the internet might âtotally changeâ your life doesnâ™t seem like the most neutral way to start a discussion. ESTONIAN ANSWER TO A BRUSSELS MYSTERY? When detailed five-meter tall images of female and male genitalia started appearing overnight on the side of Brussels buildings in 2016, the first question many asked was: âHow can they paint that so quickly?â Because the images were granular and not covered in thick swathes of paint, the second question was: âHow can they paint that with spray cans?â Maybe there was a digital hand in this mystery. After spotting this image, above right, in Tallinnâ™s airport, painted using an app call Sprayprinter, Playbook wonders if this was the means for getting these images all over Brussels. Sprayprinter markets itself as âa handheld printer that works with spray paint,â so that users can âeasily transfer images from your smartphone onto walls.â And the images look suspiciously similar in technique. FRANCE UNTAMED: Television network France 24 is getting a kick out of POLITICOâ™s house style on French translations. The network opined, âIn its coverage of the far-left movement [La France Insoumise], POLITICO has come up with âFrance Untamed,â™ which seems more appropriate for an eau de parfum than a political campaign. A quick internet search proves this hunch to be correct.â Victoriaâ™s Secret does, in fact, sell âFrance Untamedâ body spray. France 24 says it has used âUnsubmissive Franceâ and âIndomitable Franceâ â both of which sound more back-street sex shop than high-street lingerie emporium. OVER THE TOP: Even for the U.K.â™s Daily Express newspaper, itâ™s latest wheeze is quite extreme. Under a series of articles labelled âBrexit Punishmentâ the Express details all the nasty things overpaid bureaucrats in Brussels are dreaming up to punish Britons for voting to leave the EU. Headlines include âBrussels to strip U.K. of banking and medicine agenciesâ and âItâ™s DISGUSTING: EU hammered for âforcing bad dealâ™ on U.K. with Brexit punishment bill.â FEUD OF THE WEEK Wilbur Ross vs Christine Lagarde. United States Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross called IMF leader Christine Lagardeâ™s warning against protectionism ârubbish,â saying Europe has more protectionist policies than the U.S. Ross accused Lagarde and other defenders of the current multilateral system of âsloganeeringâ in order to preserve Americaâ™s trade deficits, and blamed everything but Americaâ™s own policies and consumption habits for its trade balance. [rosslagarde] BY THE NUMBERS: TURKEY 75 â Percentage of Belgium-based Turkish voters who voted Yes in the countryâ™s constitutional referendum. 178 â Number of media outlets shut down or taken under government control. 4,811 â Number of academics dismissed from 112 universities during the state of emergency. 125,485 â Number of civil servants suspended or fired since July 2016. SEPARATED AT BIRTH U.S. political strategist Steve Bannon, and Greek Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Georgios Katrougalos. [bannongreek] GAFFES AND LAUGHS €˜WE€™RE ALL SINNERS€™: The U.K. Liberal Democrats were setting themselves up as the party for progressives and Remainers in the June 8 snap U.K. election. Then their leader Tim Farron put that plan on the bonfire when, live on national television, he refused to retract an earlier comment in which he described homosexuality as a sin. The best Farron could manage was âIâ™m not in a position to make theological pronouncements.â DIGITAL SINGLE NEWSLETTER: The European Parliamentâ™s internal market committee, responsible for developing the digital single market, wants you to know how digital they are. Pity then that their own newsletter fails the digital integration test. The latest edition included an inserted image, an attached PDF and the PDF ending with a QR code. HIKE YOUR WAY TO INDEPENDENCE: Estonia started a long series of celebrations to mark its 100 years of independence with a mass hike. Around 2,500 hikers headed for nine different locations along the former border between North and South Estonia, and began hiking along it in near freezing temperatures, equipped with GPS devices, local media reported. WHO’S UP RECEP TAYYIP ERDOÄŸAN: His constitutional referendum, called after Turkeyâ™s post-coup crackdown, grants him expanded powers â despite reports of voting irregularities. THERESA MAY: The British prime minister called a snap election on June 8 in order to boost her chances in Brexit negotiations. WHO’S DOWN JEREMY CORBYN: The Labour leader says heâ™s ready for the fight, but his party is facing electoral disaster. MATTHIAS MüLLER: The CEO of Volkswagen was slapped down by Jean-Claude Juncker after complaining that European Commissioner for Justice and Consumers VÄra Jourová has overstepped the mark by criticizing the firm.
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