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“Who is in charge of the clattering train? The axles creak, and the couplings strain. For the pace is hot, and the points are near, and Sleep hath deadened the driver’s ear: And signals flash through the night in vain. Death is in charge of the clattering train!” Sir Winston Churchill recalled this poem to himself to illustrate his personal frustration with his parliamentary colleagues, but why?

Churchill recalled the first few and last few lines from when he was a young boy. His was a shortened version of a poem that appeared in Punch cartoons on October 4, 1890.

“French lawmakers voted in favour of recognizing Palestine as a state on Tuesday, a symbolic move that will not immediately affect France’s diplomatic stance but demonstrates growing European impatience with a stalled peace process. The motion... echoes similar votes in Britain, Spain and Ireland…” (Haaretz, December 2, 2014).

Recently in Strasbourg “Pope Francis addressed the European Parliament with a strong message for the European Union (EU) to work together and be aware of its own identity” (Deutsche Welle, November 25, 2014). Building on the EU motto “United in Diversity,” he exhorted EU leaders to appreciate their religious roots, embracing them as the foundation that will make Europe “immune to the many forms of extremism spreading in the world” (ibid.).