Today has been a typically heavy Monday on a plenary session week. It started with an early coordination meeting with the President, Staffan Nilsson, an early management board meeting, the ‘pre-session’ preparatory meeting for the Bureau and the plenary session, a meeting with the sub-group of three members from the Budget Group tasked with preparing the 2013 draft budget, meetings with my two Vice-Presidents, Jacek Krawczyk and Anna Maria Darmanin and, in the evening, the enlarged Presidency (the President, Vice-Presidents, three Group Presidents and me). I am now several months into the fourth year of my mandate as Secretary General and my team have worked out that already I have served 30 plenary sessions and 37 Bureau meetings. Of course, there are always problems to be solved and occasional technical and logistical hitches to be overcome but, in general terms, the Committee works, and it works well. In some considerable part that is down to the Rolls Royce of the administration; truly, a well-oiled machine.