The government's plan to sell off or lease 258, 000 hectares of England's public forests, managed by the Forestry Commission, was intended to give the private sector, community and charitable groups greater involvement in woodlands by encouraging a "mixed model" of ownership.

BBC: Government performs u-turn on forest sell off

They are a mixed bunch, ranging from model EU citizens such as Estonia (recently smitten by a property bust, but all set to gain permission this year to join the euro) to Romania and Bulgaria, which have become bywords in Brussels for corruption and organised crime respectively.

ECONOMIST: ��Eastern Europe��: Wrongly labelled | The