This morning the ‘serious’ work got under way. I took this picture from one side of the podium in the main meeting room. Whenever I am showing young guests around I always begin by explaining to them the importance of languages. To the uninitiated, it is easy to overlook the importance of languages in the dynamics of the EU’s policy making and legislative processes. So it was interesting to see, sitting on the podium in the opening session, how our young guests adapted to the reality of interpretation, meaning headphones, microphones, and the difficulty of exploiting the traditional tools of oratory. Great stuff.