In a variety of different ways I’ve been working with politicians on the net for more than a decade now. At one level it’s fine work – everyone knows the future is going to be online, right? It’s cheaper to communicate online than it is through traditional media, so the...
For good or bad we’ve had a glut of gripping stories this summer, those sit-glued-to-the-TV moments where everyone wants to know what’s going on. For me the Oslo / Utøya attacks, the London riots, and the rebel advance on Tripoli have been three such events. Only now there is a...
I’ve organised my fair share of Facebook campaigns over the years – some with tremendous success and others that went nowhere. I’ve also spoken to people who have run major Facebook activities in the past, people like Anton Abele whose Stop Street Violence campaign became front page news in Sweden....
Back a couple of years ago when I lived in Brussels I was struck by the lack of good quality information online in English about life in the city. Too many people in Brussels for work in and around the EU institutions never see the best of Brussels, and the...
I’ve been watching today’s debate in the House of Commons about the response to riots across the UK. Others are better placed to analyse the substance of the security or policing response but I will focus on just one point: how MPs and the Prime Minister have been referring to...
I’ve long been fascinated by Nordic politics and societies. There have been numerous posts about these countries on this blog over the years. These countries top the tables for quality of life, low levels of corruption, levels of broadband access etc. But how are these countries doing when it comes to...
I’m starting to write this blog entry at 2123 CET on 22nd July 2011. We have known for a few hours that twin attacks have taken place in Norway – an explosion in central Oslo and a series of shootings at Utøya, an island in Tyrifjorden to the north east...
I was posed what sounded like a simple enough question by an old friend in Brussels at the end of last week: I was wondering […] whether you knew of a good English-language newsletter, or feed, or whatever, summing up legislative developments at EU level. The Law Societies do send...
Back in the autumn of last year I did a partial redesign of this blog. Since then the blog has sprouted all kinds of buttons, and looks a bit of a mess. In the meantime WordPress has evolved to version 3.2 and offers a whole bunch of new features. So...
How does the Labour Party regenerate itself in opposition? It’s a question many people are asking themselves, and there’s one person in particular – Maurice Glasman, complete with piles of books and evocative cigarette – who’s putting himself about to try to help determine the ideological direction of the future...
Others will post more profound observations about Google+, but for me it has provoked one fundamental question: what are my rules for adding friends, followers, people into circles etc. on the different social networks I use? Oddly, thinking about this has actually led to a rationalisation of my Facebook use...
I was a speaker yesterday at the Nordic-Baltic Youth Forum 2011 in Narva, Estonia. The slides from my presentation are here, but this post is about an issue that was on my mind all day – how Members of the European Parliament should organise their web presence. The 3 MEPs at...