LETTER : My Luxembourg: a very different place

rom Mr David Phillips

Sir: I wonder if Andrew Marshall's claim that Luxembourg is the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the world is related to the now discredited story that the country had the highest consumption of alcohol per capita in the world?

That old canard was based on the fact that if you divide the large quantities of booze sold here by the number of inhabitants, you arrive at some phenomenal figure. The same happens if you divide the quantity of petrol, diesel etc sold here by the number of inhabitants. The truth is that the low prices of these products attract large numbers of tourists from the neighbouring countries of Belgium, Germany and France, thus inflating the apparent per capita consumption.

Anyway, as one of the hapless European Parliament officials with an office in Luxembourg, I can tell you that what with the cheap booze, petrol and (surprisingly) very clean air it can be quite pleasant to live here. But then I would say that, wouldn't I? After all, I used to live in Widnes ...

Yours sincerely,

DAVID PHILLIPS

Luxembourg

18 April