Jon Worth's Euroblog

08.12.2007 EU Politics

Brown: better not make it 2 no-shows in a week

So Gordon Brown boycotted the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon because Robert Mugabe was there. Yes, he’s gruesome and evil (Mugabe I mean), but a whole host of other African leaders were there too – it wasn’t an EU-Zimbabwe summit after

03.12.2007 Observations

Stupid neighbours

So the door to your shower cubicle falls off. What do you do? The answer from our neighbours upstairs: keep showering anyway! Spraying water all over the floor, causing mould, damage to the wooden floor outside their bathroom, and now

03.12.2007 Technology

barsinbrussels.eu – my new life as an internet entrepreneur(!)

What do you do when you end up in a new city and don’t have the information available to find decent bars and restaurants? Well, you do something about it! Hence the idea to register the domain name barsinbrussels.eu and

03.12.2007 EU Politics

How can the British understand Europe when even The Observer prints drivel?

Via Nosemonkey’s blog I came across this column in The Observer by Tim Adams from just over a week ago about the European Parliament. What a load of drivel. I’ll quote one paragraph: One of the problems with the European

30.11.2007 EU Politics

Labour’s EP nominations close today, and my name will not be on the list

I’ve been a Labour Party member since 1996 – I joined before I could even vote – and EU politics is my major interest. I’ve worked on all kinds of EU matters for a decade and I’m 27 now and

29.11.2007 EU Politics

UK European Commissioner 2009

If you’ve reached this page via Google looking for the allocation of the portfolios for the 2009 European Commission then see the latest information from European Voice here. The Barroso Commission is well past the half way point in its

29.11.2007 UK Politics

Accountability, Whitehall and IT

I haven’t written anything here about the HMRC missing discs scandal as yet, but a post by Never Trust a Hippy (one of the most thoughtful Labour bloggers) and some conversations with social democrats from other European countries here in

27.11.2007 UK Politics

The Westminster Tornado

Can it get any worse? Labour’s General Secretary Peter Watt has had to resign over donations from David Abrahams via 3 associates. It looks like the planning process might have been compromised as a result (Evening Standard link, so take

21.11.2007 UK Politics

During this evening of national crisis, Gordon Brown’s Britishness campaign can come into its own

Not a good few days to be a British football fan. No, make that Scottish, English or Northern Irish football fan. England’s abject 3-2 defeat by Croatia at Wembley this evening meant that none of the 4 UK ‘nations’ has

21.11.2007 Technology

UK, the Euro, and web hosting price transparency

It’s a matter of two things I care about: web technology, and European Politics – particularly the Euro and what it means for price transparency. I was looking at the price of 1&1 Virtual Servers for a client I’m working

21.11.2007 UK Politics

European Movement re-launch today

Good news today regarding Britain’s relationship with the European Union (I don’t get to say that very often!) The European Movement is re-launching this afternoon in Westminster, with Charles Kennedy as its new Chair. Whatever Kennedy’s background, it cannot be

13.11.2007 UK Politics

And what good work did the British royals do?

2 Spanish cartoonists have been fined for drawing a cartoon depicting the Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia having sex – see the original cartoon here, and the BBC News article. Make of the cartoon what you want, but