Allegations of racism and financial impropriety have spiced up an otherwise
lacklustre two-week ritual in which nominees to the European Union’s executive
arm are quizzed by the EU’s only directly elected institution.
In one of my favorite non-science fiction novels, “Freddy and Fredericka“, the future King and Queen of England are dropped naked from an airplane into America as sort of a rite of passage. Though heir to the throne and infinitely wealthy back home, Freddy must use only his wits, skills of persuasion and physical abilities to somehow rise to the unlikely position of the leader of the USA - if he manages this, basically from scratch, he will then have earned the throne of England not only due to hereditary decree but via his own merits.