NERO fiddling comes to mind at the latest ill-conceived pronouncement from EU bureaucrats. Henceforth, olive oil is no longer to be served at restaurant tables in refillable containers.

In future, it will only be available in tamper-proof packets labelled to EU standards.

Quite apart from whether this is something with which the EU should be concerned; this is a ruling typical of a health and safety jobsworth.

It has not been thought through, either from a practical or financial point of view.

Whoever decreed this measure has never tried to open a sachet of sauce at the dining table.

However, the financial implications are far more serious.

Olive oil production is almost entirely confined to the Southern European nations Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy, the very same countries that are enduring the nightmare social deprivations brought about by the Euro fiasco.

Olive oil production is akin to that of wine, with connoisseurs being able to identify individual regions and even producers.

Consequently, high-class restaurants prefer to source their own supplies. A measure such as this will favour large producers, with small ones going to the wall.

This measure is an insufferable cultural and financial interference and typical of the diktats emanating from Brussels.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.