So you think you know about the EU? Well, test it out thanks to Facebook. I’ve created a test in the Facebook application ‘Traveller IQ’ that tests if you know where cities that have been important in the history of the EU are actually located. Schengen anyone? Some of the […]
I was relieved to see that 2 of the 4 charges under the Representation of the People Act 1983 against my good friend Miranda Grell have been dropped today. The case has been adjourned, and the final verdict will be delivered after closing statements on Friday next week (21st September). […]
How long should elected politicians serve? It’s a perennial issue for all levels of government. I’m not in favour of fixed terms of office – that’s for the individuals concerned and especially for the parties themselves to decide. While the rest of the Labour Party is getting worked up by […]
So much for the EU being corrupt. Ashley Mote, sometime UKIP MEP, but too nasty and dodgy even for them (hence his decision to sit in the EP with the Independence, Traditions and Sovereignty Group with people like the French Front National) has been jailed for 9 months for benefit […]
The European Parliament is trying to decide how numbers of MEPs will be allocated between different Member States in the future. News about it from EUObserver here. The Severin-Lamassoure idea is there should be 750 MEPs, with 6 per Member State, and a maximum of 96 for the largest country. […]
The Labour Movement for Europe has today uploaded a document [PDF here] that it claims is from the FCO that aims to rebut the myths about the EU Reform Treaty as stated by the eurosceptic think tank Open Europe. The document is very comprehensive, but is ludicrously defensive. Worst of […]
UK prison officers staged an unofficial strike yesterday. Today came Brown’s response: keeping public sector pay rises low is essential to keep the lid on inflation. OK, that applies to the entire public sector, but will that reassure the prison officers? That might have been an acceptable line while he […]
Will Hutton has penned what can only be described as an eloquent and rational rant in today’s Observer about the irrationalities of the the world’s financial markets – it’s short and well worth a read. The essence of his argument is that governments are so in awe of the importance […]
Politicians go out visiting people and opening things, so why not illustrate that on a map? Harriet Harman had a visits map on her site that I made using the excellent LumoNet Google Maps plugin for Typo3, but what about if someone is not using Typo3 and wants map integration […]
Thanks to the ECJBlog I’ve come across this transcript of an interview Jim Murphy, Minister for Europe, commenting on why the Reform Treaty is really very different from the European Constitution. When pressed on the issue – how can the government defend its position when Giscard, plenty of foreign ministers […]
I’ve known for a while that I’ll be working as a freelance website designer and EU politics trainer from the autumn of 2007. The main question outstanding was where I would be based. I’m now quite relieved to be able to confirm that Brussels will be my main place of […]
So the ‘debate‘ about whether Britain should hold a referendum on the EU Reform Treaty rumbles on. The Tories snipe from one side that this is indeed the same as the European Constitution, a document Blair was ready to put to a referendum. This is set against the backdrop of […]
