Sometimes you spot an image that exemplifies right away what you are thinking. There are not better words to describe it than what is displayed in front of you. You just need to take a picture and post it.

This is what happened on Friday when I was in Brussels underground. Here is a simple leakage area which has been cordoned off with a cordon tape hung to a tilted chair probably recycled from an office. Such a patchy solution left me bewildered: ‘How is it possible that in the capital of the European Union there isn’t a better solution than this one?’

I could not find a better image to describe my impression of how our European leaders are tackling the crisis. Only sticky-plaster solutions have been devised, and they last less than that hung up cordon tape.

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Do we feel so vulnerable to the risk of radical Islam taking over our liberal society that the European Commission needs a unit to develop action against terrorist infiltration in our beloved charities?

Today the first anniversary of the massacre in Norway; yesterday the shooting at the screening of the last Batman film in Denver; few days before HSBC CEO apologising in front of the US Congress for billions in money laundering. None of them has anything to do with Islam but our Western fellows.

I doubt I can answer the question in this blog but I can report on the action taken by the EU to alleged infiltration of terrorism in civil society.

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What a schizophrenic week I had. I spent the first half challenging a Nobel Prize Laureate in public and the other half championing an idea that initially nobody took seriously. I often ask myself why I can’t swim with the tide but must always surf à rebours (against it).

I still look for an answer, but I learnt that I must follow my instinct – that mysterious inner voice. It’s the only compass I trust.

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As societies are getting ever more interconnected, to an extent that we as a species have not experienced since our ancestors strolled across African plains, European nation-states and their inter-governmental institutions struggle to catch up with the new environment. Why?

The evolution theory might help to answer this, as the question of change and adaption is at its core. In particular, an interdisciplinary approach connecting evolutionism and civilisation theory can be fruitful.

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Despite public opinion becoming hungrier by the day for greedy bankers’ comeuppance, there is quite a buzz for new financial instruments that would allegedly tackle the shortage in public funding for public services. The British government having set up a team in every department to develop a social impact bond is just one example.

I wonder if we really need to spend so much time and use so many resources engineering ever more complicated financial problems, when there is no actual lack of funding – at least private funding. The real challenge lies in understanding the complexity of societal challenges and of implementing effective measures.

To me, money seems to be the easy part in the equation. Perhaps the explanation is that unemployed bankers and policy-makers, addicted to finance, feel the need to find a new exciting field?

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