Peter Norman is a London-based journalist and writer, specialising in European issues. He began a career in journalism in 1968, as a trainee for Reuters Economic Services in London. He later worked for the Times of London and the Wall Street Journal-Europe before joining the Financial Times in 1988 with responsibility for the newspaper’s UK and international economic news coverage.  He spent 22 years of his professional life on the European mainland, based at various times in Frankfurt, Bonn and Brussels. After three years in Bonn as the FT’s chief German correspondent, he moved in 1998 to Brussels as bureau chief and chief EU correspondent. He has combined book authorship and journalism since returning to the UK in July 2002. ‘Plumbers and Visionaries: Securities Settlement and Europe’s Financial Market’, is his second work of recent European history.