Spain appoints its first female Defense Minister, part of Zapatero’s cabinet that’s gender balanced. Time has an article about her (via Liberal Conspiracy), and women in politics in Spain – it’s not easy going, but it must be an optimistic time to be a woman politician in Spain. The Sun, […]
I must say I wasn’t a fan of Kate Hoey when I lived in her Vauxhall constituency a few years ago (mainly because she’s eurosceptic), and it seems that since her stint as a Junior Minister ended in 2001 she’s ended up becoming madder and madder. She’s a Labour MP […]
So the ‘debate’ about the future President of the European Union advances apace. According to EUObserver today some sort of behind-the-scenes deal has been struck between France, Germany and the UK meaning that no country will pursue a nomination opposed by one of the other two. So curtains for Blair […]
As the Olympic torch passed through Paris a protester tried to steal it from parolympic athlete Jin Jing. She has subsequently stated how she thinks the torch is sacred and has become a bit of a celebrity in China as a result. So what happened then? There has been a […]
Shock horror! Scandal! Collusion! British officials have been conspiring with their Irish counterparts to help stitch up the referendum in Ireland on the Treaty of Lisbon, and a note about it has been leaked… Open Europe, Bruno Waterfield and Iain Dale have been getting in a lather about it. Of […]
How the hell has the Italian electorate once more elected this man? While in Italy we can expect an alliance with post-fascists and even greater media control in his hands, the international scene can wait with baited breath for more of those excruciating foot-in-mouth moments (such as regarding Finland and […]
There are two problems with the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy as I see it. First, it eats up 40% of the EU’s budget, and I’m none too keen to subsidize farmers. But I could live with that if it was not for the second problem: the fact that CAP buggers […]
I’ve been thinking about the degree of party-politicisation of the UK civil service for some time and have come to a rather unusual conclusion: the UK needs party-political State Secretaries (equivalents of Secrétaires d’État in France, Staatssekretäre in Germany, Statssekreterare in Sweden). A State Secretary would have a role equivalent […]
So the European Commission is under pressure to publish its list of what can and cannot be carried onto planes. All this has come to light due to one German passenger being banned from boarding as he was carrying tennis rackets in his hand luggage. I’ve had similarly ludicrous incidents […]
This has been quite a week for posts about internet gadgets, stats, surveys and politicians’ strategies for using the internet. Today some diligent folks at BBPR had searched for ‘italian politics blog’ in Google UK and came across this post of mine about Silvio Berlusconi, and sent me a press […]
There’s that old illustration that school kids used to be shown where a small fish was eaten by a larger one that was in turn consumed by a larger one still – carnivores and the food chain. It feels a bit the same at the moment for Web 2.0 technologies, […]
Let’s remind ourselves of the lofty aims set out in the EU’s so-called Lisbon Strategy back in 2000: the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion, and respect for the environment by 2010. Everyone […]
