The meaning of life

The best of POLITICO’s coverage selected by Editor-in-Chief Jamil Anderlini.
By JAMIL ANDERLINI
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Dear readers,
I have a crazy story to tell. Last Saturday I was in London for a day on my way to Liverpool for the U.K. Labour Party conference — its first while in office since 2009. I decided to go for a run along the Thames and headed out from my hotel in the City financial district. I was running along the footpath barely 300 meters from my hotel when I saw a homeless-looking person with a huge dog on a leash walking toward me. Just as we got close to each other, the dog, a Doberman, lunged at me. I had what a friend describes as a “mongoose reaction” and I leaped out of the way. Unfortunately, I jumped right into the road and into the path of a big, red, double-decker bus. 
They say your whole life flashes before your eyes but in my case there was only time for a couple of snippets and a sense of chagrin that I would die in the most clichéd London way ever. As I was falling, I somehow managed to twist out of the way of the oncoming bus, which missed rolling over me by mere inches. I came down hard on my right knee in the gutter. On the way down I collided with a temporary metal street sign and as I picked myself up I noticed a chunk of flesh had been gouged out of my arm. I walked a few paces and sat down. The last thing I remember was the homeless-looking man being very apologetic and worried about me and then I blacked out. 
When I came around, he and the dog were gone, there were a few people gathered around me on the pavement and someone was calling an ambulance. I asked them to cancel the ambulance and then a very kind psychiatric nurse called Rahma who had found me unconscious walked me back to my hotel. I was in pain but mainly I was elated at having just cheated death. I ordered a butter chicken to celebrate and put some ice on my leg but after a couple of hours I realized I had done something terrible to my knee. 
A taxi took me to the Royal London Hospital in East London and I spent the next six hours observing the British National Health Service first-hand. My impression is of an overwhelmed system staffed by mostly wonderful, dedicated health professionals. The waiting room was like a warzone, the waiting interminable. The nurse who stitched my arm up and gave me a tetanus shot was a delightful lieutenant colonel from the Greek army’s special forces on secondment to the NHS for a year. 
The x-rays came back and they told me I’d broken my kneecap and I needed to get back to Belgium to see an orthopedic surgeon as soon as I could. They gave me a packet of codeine, a leg splint and a pair of crutches and told me I could leave. When I pulled out my credit card and asked where to pay the bill, all I got was blank stares. They told me I might get an invoice in the mail at some point but nobody seemed to know any more than that.
I spent the next two days in my hotel room in excruciating agony only slightly moderated by large doses of codeine. I got back to Brussels via wheelchair and Eurostar, and managed to secure a quick appointment with an Antwerp-based orthopedic surgeon who is a former president of the Belgian knee association. He says I probably don’t need surgery but will be on crutches for three months and will probably need six months before I’m back to full strength. 
I’m taking this experience as a sign I need to slow down and reflect on the important things in life and really count myself lucky I wasn’t crushed under a big, red bus. My German colleagues have taught me the phrase “Glück im Unglück” (“luck in unluck” — a blessing in disguise). 
By chance, I have a long-planned vacation week starting tomorrow and I’m planning to totally switch off to indulge this new, more reflective, approach to life.
I’ll be back the week after, all going well. 
Until then, I hope you all take time to hug your loved ones, be thankful for all the good things in your life and I wish you bon weekend,
Jamil
‘All must be beheaded’ 
You can really feel the weight of the reporting in this long read exposing atrocities by Mozambican soldiers operating out of a TotalEnergies natural gas plant. The care with which our reporter reconstructed the shocking events is matched by the quality of the storytelling and presentation. Hugely impressive and courageous piece of journalism. Read the story.
Von der Leyen budgeted €149K to pay medieval history professor for farming report 
Our story about a German medieval history professor being paid nearly €1,000 per day for a farming report was a terrific Brussels Bubble scoop and seems to have struck a nerve, prompting a 13-minute grilling of the Commission spokesperson by the press corps the day after it was published. A great story for our core audience, as it combined those classic EU staples of power, money and farmers! Read the story. 
Can French PM Barnier outlive Liz Truss and the lettuce?  
Whenever there’s a chance to fondly remember the lettuce that outlasted Liz Truss, you take it. And given French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s tenuous political position, he could be the next politician to suffer the ignominy of being outlasted by a vegetable. Read the story. 
‘Precious genius’ Elon Musk love-bombs ‘beautiful’ Giorgia Meloni at think tank awards
When the Atlantic Council decided to give Giorgia Meloni a Global Citizens Award, the Italian prime minister asked for Elon Musk to be invited to introduce her. That fateful request led to Musk fawning over Meloni as “someone who is even more beautiful on the inside than she is on the outside,” and to the Italian PM noting the tech billionaire’s “precious genius.” Wild stuff — so much so, Musk subsequently denied a “romantic relationship” with Meloni. Read the story. 
Mission Impossible: Germany’s bid to kill EU duties on Chinese EVs 
Here’s everything you always wanted to know about qualified majority voting — and how the EU will decide on duties on Chinese electric vehicles — but were afraid to ask (with amazing graphics). Read the story. 
Meet the world’s toughest trade negotiator. It’s not Donald Trump. 
This is a fascinating profile of one of the most powerful players in the trade world. The reporting takes readers behind the scenes at the WTO while charting India’s growing influence on the world stage. Read the story. 
EU Confidential: Ukraine’s 4-month countdown
This week’s edition of EU Confidential starts off in Kyiv, where POLITICO’s Veronika Melkozerova recounts meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he gave reporters a sneak peek of his “Victory Plan.” (Security is tight — even lipstick needs a close check.) Then we unpack his lobbying mission to the White House and the U.N. General Assembly. Jan Cienski, POLITICO senior policy editor; Dave Brown, defense editor at POLITICO US; and Olga Oliker, program director for Europe and Central Asia at International Crisis Group, join host Sarah Wheaton to discuss the political and strategic debates playing out in the U.S. and the EU. Next, we continue our Berlaymont Who’s Who series with mini-profiles of commissioners-designate Raffaele Fitto (Meloni’s man in Brussels) and current EVP Maroš Šefčovič (the EU’s Mr. Fix-it).
Listen to the episode.

Westminster Insider: How to choose a Tory leader
This week Westminster Insider host Sascha O’Sullivan dives into what it’s really like to be a contender in a Tory leadership campaign — and how candidates can appeal to both MPs and party members alike. Andrea Leadsom recalls the intense pressure on her at the time — and tells Sascha why she really decided to pull out of the race and concede to Theresa May. Sascha also speaks to the Tories’ former deputy leader, Peter Lilley, about his own failed run for the leadership back in 1997, and to former party leader Michael Howard about why Tory members were given more of a say at that time over who should be in charge. Tory peer Daniel Finkelstein explains how this new role for the membership led to the election of unpopular leaders like Iain Duncan Smith and Liz Truss. And former campaign chiefs Tim Loughton, who ran Leadsom’s campaign, and James Starkie, who ran Priti Patel’s recent leadership bid, give a behind-the-scenes view of how candidates battle to win Tory MPs over to their side. 
Listen to the episode.

Power Play: Trudeau’s fight for survival: Chrystia Freeland enters the fray
Taking on the presidency of the G7 next year, Canada should be in prime position to shape transatlantic relations alongside its dominant neighbor — regardless of who moves into the White House. But does Justin Trudeau have what it takes to deliver? Host Anne McElvoy talks to the No. 2 in Trudeau’s government, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, about whether plummeting poll numbers and heavy by-election defeats suggest Canadians have lost faith in the long-serving premier. Trudeau’s opponents, led by Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, set the ball rolling this week with a motion of no-confidence in parliament. Later, Anne talks to Nick Taylor-Vaisey, author of POLITICO’s Ottawa Playbook, on Trudeau’s chances of survival in next year’s general election.
Listen to the episode.

Meat is murder (if you accidentally mention it in a speech). Read more in this week’s Declassified column.
Caption competition
“Cleanup in aisle 2.“
 Can you do better? Email [email protected] or on Twitter @pdallisonesque
Last week we gave you this photo:
 Thanks for all the entries. Here’s the best from our postbag — there’s no prize except for the gift of laughter, which I think we can all agree is far more valuable than cash or booze.
“Hands up all those who don’t need the Winter Fuel Allowance!” by Brendon Gore
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