Today MEPs are voting on a vast array of chemicals legislation, “REACH” (acronym of “Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals”).

If you thought that in itself couldn’t get more tedious, spare a thought for the poor MEPs (most of whom wouldn’t know a chemical if it bit them in the face) who have to try and get their heads around the thing and vote on it – after whittling down more than 5,000 proposed amandments in 10 different committees, they have to reach decisions on the still more than 500 that remain.

See? It’s not all exciting and headline-grabbing arguments about terrorism and civil liberties. Politics (and perhaps especially politics in the European Parliament) is mostly incredibly dull.

Still, if you’re REALLY keen on finding out more, EurActiv has a good roundup of the various complexities of the thing.