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 […]
Website launches are like buses: you wait ages for one and then four come along at once. Over the last 7 days I have launched 2 major websites that have been in the pipeline for some time, and 2 smaller sites. I have been working with the Young Foundation to […]
Just a quick plug for a really amusing environmental campaign website entitled EV-EON – criticising power firm E-ON’s devotion to burning coal to generate electricity, and the problems with carbon capture. The site has excellent design and whether you agree with it or not it’s well worth a visit. I […]
I’m probably about the only person anywhere who gets really hung up on the question of how effective MEPs are. A majority of the populations of European countries cannot muster the energy to turn up to vote, let alone cast a critical and analytical eye over their European representatives. But […]
How should PR professionals use the web? That’s one of the issues I read up on in order to better advise political clients with regard to the websites I produce as a freelancer. My main starting point in the UK has been Daljit Bhurji’s blog (many moons ago Daljit and […]
Sometimes you turn up somewhere for the first time in a while and you realise something is different, and you search for an answer why the change took place. I’ve been to the French port town of Sète, in Languedoc, every year between 1990 and 2000, and every couple of […]
Thanks to LME for posting up the list of all of Labour’s candidates for the 2009 European Parliament elections – 69 candidates in all. Below you can find the full list. Apart from the retirement of Glenys Kinnock and Gary Titley all the other MEPs are sitting pretty at the […]
The European Parliament (and indeed the EU) badly needs characters to liven up an often rather dull institution. Hence it’s sad that 2 of the most interesting and influential MEPs are departing this spring, for very different reasons. Alexander Stubb (whose work I have previously praised) was appointed on 1st […]
Have a read of this brilliant article in today’s Guardian about a new cultural initiative involving Gordon Brown and Carla Bruni. I sort of wish Brown would do something so daring… Pity it’s not on the Number 10 website. I also realise that I may have inadvertently written an April […]
