For the past decade, a Dell U2715h 27 inch monitor has been the external screen I connect to my laptop. It cost me €330 back in 2015. But over recent years it has developed a fault that has cropped up
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Category: Observations
Media: here’s a little guide how to deal with experts
On 20th November – two months ago – I received a media request from the Slovak newspaper SME, asking whether I could help them put the quality of Slovak railways in a European context. Given I spent a lot of
Continue readingZN’s EU Influencer Study – ranked 5th
ZN and Euractiv have drawn up a new table of EU influencers. You can find out more about their methodology here, and I have written up my thoughts about this on my own blog here. The Twitter list of the
Continue readingNominated to the Europe Policy Group of World Economic Forum
I have been nominated to be a member of World Economic Forum’s Europe Policy Group for the period between August 2017 and January 2018. A list of the members of the group can be found here (PDF). The group contains
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Election campaigning for Die Grünen in the 2017 Bundestagswahl
Germany goes to the polls on 24th September. And that means the country is in full on election mode at the moment. Posters are appearing on lamp posts, street stalls proliferating outside U-Bahn stations and supermarkets. It’s the first time
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EU Tweetup – still going strong
It started back in 2012 when Anne Laumen, Captain Europe and I decided to meet for a beer and invited other Twitter nerds along – #EUTweetUp was born. Now almost five years the ad hoc series of pub nights is
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Speech at the Pulse of Europe rally in Berlin
In the spring of 2017 the “Pulse of Europe” movement spread swiftly across Germany and into other EU countries as a response to rising Euroscepticism and perceived threats to liberal democracy in Europe. In Berlin for many consecutive weeks people
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Time for something new
I normally consider this blog something rather personal, a place to express my thoughts. But more people know of me thanks to this blog, and thanks to some of the projects I have managed to launch here, than through anything
Continue readingI’m joining the Transparency International EU Advisory Group
Transparency International’s EU office established an Advisory Group to help translate TI’s new Global Strategy into something workable within the narrower confines of EU policymaking. Chaired by former Commissioner Mario Monti, I have been a member of the 11 strong
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Deception is a bottle of Leffe
I tend to steer clear of Leffe beer in Belgium – it tastes inferior to the likes of Orval or Tripel Karmeliet, and I always tend to fear the market influence of large brewers like InBev, the owners of the
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Dedicated to Ai Weiwei
Nauseating posters such as this one: adorn airports worldwide. They are part of the “Britain is GREAT” campaign. The website even states “Welcome to GREAT Britain”. Well, not if you’re Ai Weiwei. A state visit for the Chinese PM is
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Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap – good, but not worth the wait
In the 18 months I’ve lived in Kreuzberg I’ve passed Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap (website, map) stand on Mehringdamm dozens of times. Come rain or shine, summer or winter, there is always a queue of people waiting outside it. Today I
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