Another rare sighting

It is the ill-concealed wish of Gordon Brown, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, that by this time next year (but preferably a lot sooner), he will no longer be the UK finance minister but the first Lord of the Treasury, otherwise known as the prime minister. So Entre Nous should not neglect the great event of last week: Brown's attendance at a meeting of EU finance ministers, Ecofin. That means that already in 2006 he has attended two meetings of Ecofin – the first was in June. If he showed up on the next two Tuesdays (21 and 28 November) that would make three in a month – which would be too much to hope for. Best not to get too excited.