Eurosceptic Tory-boy Daniel Hannan caused uproar in the European Parliament this week by comparing the procedural powers granted to the EP’s President to the way powers had been granted to Hitler (FT, PA). According to Euractiv his words were “It is only my affection for you that prevents me from […]
2009 marks 10 years of the Eurozone – it’s time for a bit of a celebration. So the European Commission has come up with the idea of minting some celebratory coins. So how should the design be chosen? Commission DG for Economic & Financial Affairs has launched an online poll […]
I received a kind e-mail from the folks running the European Young Journalist Award asking me whether I might mention the award on this site, and indeed whether I would like to enter. Clearly the folks there have not really had a look at the rants I’ve been writing about […]
Switzerland faces a shortage of Cervelat sausages for Euro 2008 and who is to blame? The EU! Despite Switzerland not being a member state!! For a European football tournament!!! The fans must have their sausages… So what’s going on? “Although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it […]
Thomas Bodström was Justice Minister in the Swedish government of the Social Democrats until 2006, and was well known for his high profile efforts to tighten rape laws in Sweden. So who is it now, still a MP, who is the plaintiff’s attorney (mÃ¥lsägarbiträde) in the high profile rape case […]
He’s been quiet for a while, but Tony Blair is coming back into the public limelight. First he joined the Catholic Church (bad), then he joined JP Morgan (probably bad), he’s aiming for peace in the Middle East (good, but probably he won’t manage it) and this weekend he spoke […]
34. Well, it’s just a number? Well, not quite. It’s the last two figures on car numberplates from the French département of Hérault, the region of France where I spent all my summers from 1990 until 1998 (and plenty of time subsequently). See a 34 drive past and I think […]
While researching my previous post about European Capitals of Culture I discovered that capitalsofculture.eu was still free to register. So I’ve registered it and created a small page to ask the Commission what they are doing about publicity for this flagship programme, ripping off the Commission’s lousy page design to […]
Tonight is the launch of Liverpool 2008 – European Capital of Culture (Wikipedia page). But how much is the EU actually involved in the European Capitals of Culture? The picture is at best extremely opaque. Let’s get a few things straight. The idea of capitals of culture dates from a […]
I’m happy to announce the launch of a new website for a Labour candidate today – Chuka Umunna’s site Chuka 4 Streatham. This is the second website project I’ve launched with him after TMP Online that has grown strongly in the last year. I’ve known Chuka since 2002 and I’m […]
On my bookshelf of hefty political tomes stand 4 volumes steeped in relevance to the Labour Party: Aneurin Bevan by Michael Foot, Red Queen (Barbara Castle) by Anne Perkins, Kinnock by Martin Westlake, and Courage: 8 Portraits by Gordon Brown, the latter two signed by the Labour leaders past and […]
So the Government is going to build new nuclear power stations. John Hutton will announce it today, Take II after the initial mess of the “procedurally unfair” consultation process. I’m not an outright hater of nuclear power – I think we would be foolish to decommission the UK’s existing nuclear […]
