I have a lot of respect for the work that the Fabian Society does, but they just do not seem to understand that the old channels of influence do not work in quite the same way as before. The new
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British idiots want to have their bread and eat it
Red tape, regulation, burdens on British business. The number of times we hear that in the British press when complaints are made about Brussels. I was hence dumbstruck today when the tables have been turned and the reaction is still
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Eurovision: time for all Europeans to be equal!
Europe Day is past, so now it’s time to focus on that other great European (but non-EU) event – the Eurovision Song Contest. Iain Dale started to get me thinking about this. The contest is essentially unfair. A few thousand
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OK, game on – time for a new leader
Right, so that’s it then. Blair’s time is over. There was plenty of sancimonious stuff in his resignation speech, and religious references too. All a bit sick-inducing. But the really excellent bit was this: “There is only one government since
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Happy Europe Day folks!
It’s Europe Day today! So pause for a moment and reflect on what has been achieve since Robert Schuman’s appeal for the creation of a Coal and Steel community – the Schuman Declaration – 57 years ago today. We’ve come
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Salmond – so you think voters are thick?
Yesterday’s Scottish elections have been criticised due to a large number of spoilt ballot papers, presumably because people did not understand the voting system in use in the 2 different elections taking place. Single Transferable Vote (STV) where you mark
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Southwark Council Tax stupidity strikes again
It took me months and months to arrange the payment of Council Tax at the flat I’ve lived in since 8th September 2006 in Southwark. I’ve blogged about the problems before. But by February I thought I had managed to
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Labour stats and the NHS credibility gap
Labour has launched an excellent website called Better With Labour, looking first at all the changes that have been made to the NHS under Labour and how matters have improved. Life expectancy for males in Southwark is up by 3.2
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Europe 2057 – the good and the bad
JEF-Europe yesterday published a spoof newspaper – The Daily European – that speculated about future scenarios for the European Union and how it will be in 2057, 100 years after the Treaty of Rome. I’m quite happy that JEF has
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UN Parliamentary Assembly Appeal
Jeremy has pointed me towards an appeal that has just been launched, calling for a UN Parliamentary Assembly. The campaign has plenty of high-level backers but any individual is also welcome to sign. If you care about reform of the
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Beach huts
A great British institution – the beach hut. At Southwold in Suffolk there are plenty of them, in many bright colours. It was a pleasure to spend a weekend pottering around the Suffolk countryside, a welcome break from London.
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Secularism, the military, the EU and Abdullah Gul
As has been widely reported, Turkey has a bit of a problem on its hands with the selection of its new President. Opposition CHP members of Parliament boycotted the vote, so the election of the ruling AK Party’s candidate –
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