This is a bit of an odd one, but the source is an interesting (and controversial) Danish politician – Naser Khader. Khader has represented three different parties in the Danish Parliament, and now represents the Conservative People’s Party, the party of Denmark’s foreign minister Lene Espersen. On his blog on...
“We’re on track for a multispeed EU and the UK government is OK with it. That is the main conclusion for the UK from a week from a week when the Euro was, at least temporarily, brought back from the brink with a 15 point plan for its rescue. Oh,...
UK online politics seems to be in a period of transition this summer, and it’s not (yet?) due to the News of the World fallout. It is instead because of the launch of two new large scale blogs – Huffington Post UK, and Dale & Co. The reputation of Huffington...
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...
Look across Europe, and think of the calibre of its leaders. Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron. Zapatero, Berlusconi, Tusk. Reinfeldt, Løkke, Pahor. Brussels with Barroso and Van Rompuy. This is not a quality lineup, not what one would classically call a statesman or stateswoman among the lot of them. Not a Schuman,...
I suppose drafting polemics takes time, or perhaps there is another reason for his deficiency. For Daniel Hannan MEP, European poster boy for the Tory right, seems increasingly to be neglecting the very work he is supposed to be doing – representing his constituents from South East England in the...
OK, he’s a MP rather than a MEP now, but a piece by Jonathan Evans for Public Service Europe annoys me. There are some valid points in the piece on the way the EP and Westminster work, but this is the frustrating bit: The ordinary voter is used to the...
“There are two main motivations for national leaders when nominating candidates for high positions in international organisations. Either send away a politician who could be a domestic opponent – for example Nicolas Sarkozy nominating Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the IMF – or choose someone with a low enough profile not to...
It remains one of my most-read blog entries – a quick 2006 post on why Oxford Street without buses is actually very pleasant, and I thought back to it having read that Boris has announced Boxing Day will be traffic free on Oxford Street. But now, with elections for Mayor...
Hell, crackdown by the evil Facebook! Shutting down student protest! In cahoots with the authorities! Even Evgeny Morozov is onto it: "Over 50 political accounts deleted in Facebook purge" http://goo.gl/YmBWD — Evgeny Morozov (evgenymorozov.bsky.social) (@evgenymorozov) April 29, 2011 Look folks, this was a problem waiting to happen. Here’s why.
Agh, today is painful. I’m a republican, atheist, anti-nationalist, and there’s a royal wedding going on, people sing god save the queen, and British flags are everywhere. Which got me thinking: which of my political views are actually similar to those of more than 50% of the British population? I...
First up we have Is your Cat confused about the referendum on the voting system on the 5th May? With cat versus dog simplicity, some nifty graphics, and why AV keeps out the nasty dogs. It’s even good at explaining AV! Second we have Does she know what she’s talking...