Today on BBC News there’s an article about how the Environment Agency has issued new guidance about how low-energy lightbulbs should be disposed of. OK, fair enough, these bulbs need some care. But how the hell do you actually get rid of them in the UK? I posted about this […]
In today’s Observer, Andrew Rawnsley offers Gordon Brown these words of advice: “It would be an added bonus if he and his ministers could articulate a sense of purpose and an air of dynamism.” Spot on, as far as I’m concerned. Problem is that Rawnsley’s lines were printed on the […]
Good news as 2007 draws to a close – the year was the most successful on record for the European Commission’s work fining companies for behaving anti-competitively – 3.3 billion Euro in total, so more than 2% of the EU’s annual income. Handelsblatt has a good article about it (in […]
So the Reform Treaty (we’re supposed to call in the Lisbon Treaty now, just so citizens can confuse it with the Lisbon Strategy) has been agreed. But what have the Heads of State and Government actually signed? All of the amendments are listed here on the Council website. Yet no […]
NOTE: since this blog post has been written Apple has updated Time Machine and its Airport Extreme Firmware. Please see this post for details of how to create the ultimate home network. Computer in one room, sound system in the other, and more than 15 metres of wall and a […]
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan, claims that Britain is suffering from atheistic fundamentalism – schools referring to a ‘Winterval’ rather than Christmas holidays is cited as an example in this BBC article. This announcement comes on the same day as news that Tony Blair has converted to catholicism […]
So 2007 draws to a close, my second full year of blogging (Euroblog launched in July 2005 – this is the 666th post since then), and it’s time to reflect a little about where this blog is going and what I might manage to make of it in 2008. But […]
As I argued in my previous post, the British media is getting into a bit of a lather about the enlargement of the Schengen border free zone. Can the media not get to grips with the benefits of something, instead carrying on about how ‘illegal migration will increase’? But let’s […]
BBC News Online has a good piece about the implications for tourism of the enlargement of the Schengen border free area in Europe, only one thing is missing: any discussion about Britain eventually joining the parts of Schengen that are actually useful to citizens. Essentially there are 3 elements of […]
Just a few lines, but they say a lot about the person: By Friday I had to get up to prepare for a dinner at home with Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden as one of the guests (!) She accepted gracefully the not so professional service (= […]
Gordon Brown manages to make the matter of signing the EU Reform Treaty a national disgrace, so what are the reactions? The eurosceptic papers unsurprisingly whine about signing away sovereignty (good piece from Political Betting). William Hague has a field day, accusing Brown of being rude and at the same […]
It makes me so sad, so disappointed. The UK cannot even be a diligent enough European country to manage to get its Prime Minister to Lisbon to sign the EU Reform Treaty on time. It’s a matter of such elementary organisation, respect and kindness – a clear two fingers in […]
