At midday I joined a human chain formed around the European Parliament to raise consciousness in this, the year of combating poverty and social exclusion. The event is part of the European Parliament’s communication campaign on its role in fighting poverty, social exclusion and the negative consequences of the crises, leading up to the Citizens’ Agora, in January next year, which is being organised by the Parliament with the support and very active participation of the European Economic and Social Committee. In a recent post I wrote about the poverty revealed in a local jumble sale. As European Vice-President Isabelle Durant put it, poverty and its consequences are all around us. In part, poverty is hidden. In part, the poor hide their condition through understandable pride. And in part we who are better off do not see. Events like this are an important way of reminding us about the reality ‘out there’.