I always enjoy watching ZDF Heute, the news programme of one of Germany’s state owned Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen. Not only is the manner of delivery of the presenters so refreshingly staid and old-fashioned, but the way stories are covered is amusingly dead-pan. This lunchtime there was a report on how […]
Yesterday afternoon I was sat in the 10ºC sunshine at 1200m above sea level sipping a beer in Châtel (Haute Savoie) after 3 days of skiing, with no sign of snow in the village. Yet climate change and energy efficiency were on my mind – it was more interesting to […]
Can someone please explain to me what’s going on with the Labour Party’s branding strategy, or the lack of it? I’ve already posted about Labour’s logo problem (i.e. what is the logo presently) but now the party also has 3 different slogans on the go – the Blair-era new Labour […]
It’s probably the most famous quote about European politics – Henry Kissinger’s “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” From today there’s a new campaign website that might just start to give an answer to that historic question… whodoicall.eu calls for One President of the EU – […]
I’m quite proud of never having owned a PC. Since a BBC B micro, I moved to a Mac Performa 400 in 1994, then on to an original iMac in 1998, a slot loading iMac, an iBook and now a PowerBook G4. Yet for the last 5 months I’ve faced […]
It was with a wry smile that I read Daniel Hannan’s blog post about how he feels he has been harshly treated by the Financial Times. I’m not sure about the pros and cons of the case itself, but welcome to the club Daniel – you’ve just faced a newspaper […]
Every country has its scheme to get more money out of travellers going to and from the airport than would otherwise be the fare for a journey of the same distance. STIB, the Brussels public transport, has a new one for the Airport Express buses 11 and 12 from Zaventem […]
Copenhagen Metro is one of the most modern underground systems in the world, and has been designed with security in mind – lights are on along all the tunnels, and there are escape routes too. Sit at the back of the train, turn off the flash on your camera, and […]
Delving into the depths of EU politics is going quiet for a few days as I’m off to Copenhagen with a bunch of Swedes and we’re going to a concert of a rather good Swedish rock band – Kent (and yes, I am offsetting my emissions for the journey). I […]
How can a newspaper that is supposed to have a serious and sensible reputation write such complete such a rubbish leader? Well, of course it’s one about the EU – a topic that is clearly too complex for the dim-wits to understand. The article in question is a leader from […]
You don’t care too much about emergency telephone numbers until, well, you’re in an emergency situation (or, as was the case for me today, you’re helping someone who is). As this emergency was taking place in Belgium I needed to call the Belgian emergency services and didn’t have the number […]
So apparently MEPs are on the make. Well, that’s according to Chris Davies, Lib Dem MEP for the North West. Some bloggers follow up in a similar vein: Matt Wardman, Norfolk Blogger, and there’s a less pro-Davies line from The Yorkshire Guidon. What should be made of all of this? […]
