Less and less and less… That seems to be the tale of the negotiations over the EU budget. According to numerous reports (see this from the BBC), Tony Blair is dashing around Europe to shore up support for a 1.03% of GNI limit to the EU budget, down from the […]
Not too long after their article about biogas (see this post), BBC News Online today has another article about Sweden – this time about healthcare and how the Swedish model might be one we could aspire to in the UK – you can read the article here. As ever, the […]
I think there is some common theme emerging on this blog… The more I get concerned about issues in the UK, the more I look elsewhere, and especially to Sweden, for optimism! The good news from yesterday is that Maryam Yazdanfar (pictured) was selected at position number 10 on the […]
I find myself a bit shocked to be saying this, but I was actually quite impressed by the way that new German Chancellor Angela Merkel approached her first visit to London. The approach was cooperative and practical, and above all else, non-macho. Her approach is summed up quite well by […]
So once more we have a potential clash between the EU and the Swedish social model. A few weeks ago it was Commissioner McCreevy complaining about collective wage bargaining agreements, and now the Swedish state alcohol monopoly fears that it is going to be under threat from legislation to open […]
OK, so you would assume that it should not be too complex. I am a member of the Labour Party, and the party is supposed to be pro-European. Within the party there is a group called the Labour Movement for Europe. This evening – 22nd November – they are holding […]
I have complained here about the poor quality of Britain’s houses and a lack of taste in carpets. But there are decent British designers – take Jonathan Ive, the inventor of the iPod for example. Now the government is starting to get interested and hope that better investment in design […]
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. Groucho Marx Well, what has that quote got to do with the European Commission’s selection process, the famous concours? It’s the first time I have written about the concours here but I am indeed one of the […]
OK, anything must be better than Silvio Berlusconi, but you have to get a bit scared when one of the first references to Romano Prodi in recent times on BBC News Online talks of his plans to reconstruct a Catholic pilgrim route – see this. It is clear that Prodi’s […]
It’s one year before the next general election in Sweden, and I am forever surprised by the very negative nature of the political debate. Look at Sweden from almost anywhere else in Europe and things look very, very good. So why can’t the Swedes see it? As a starting point, […]
OK, so my time in JEF is over. It gives me free evenings, and the release from the responsibility is so, so welcome. But the Congress in Strasbourg leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. The main political resolutions I wrote – on the situation facing the […]
Quick blog from Stansted Airport just before my 07h20 flight to Baden Baden, before heading on to Strasbourg for the JEF Congress. I have just a couple of days more in JEF, and it’s both with relief and sadness that I am on my way out. Fingers crossed that the […]
