I was asked for some information about the UK’s European Communities referendum in 1975 and hence turned to the Wikipedia page about it. The page is really detailed and gives an excellent overview of the referendum, but it also features a fab picture of Margaret Thatcher wearing a sweater with […]
There’s been a bit of debate in the last week about how a French industrial tribunal found in favour of blogger ‘petite anglaise’ – Catherine Sanderson – who had been writing abour work matters under a pseudonym. She writes about her experiences in Comment is Free here. Some research has […]
Everyone in Britain loves (or loves to hate) Ikea. So – with a hint of sarcasm and jibes about Allen keys – there has been a cautious welcome for the news that Ikea BoKlok pre-fabricated homes are to be built in Gateshead. The idea is that the wooden-framed houses are […]
The Bank of England has issued a new £20 bank note. It’s been controversial as it has Adam Smith on the back side (see the Bank of England website for more). But what struck me when one of the new notes first came out of the cash machine for me […]
I’ve been added as a ‘friend’ in Facebook by Peter Hain. But while Hain might be an interesting person to have as a real friend (you could ask him why he was a young liberal and ended up joining Labour… or why he thinks it’s OK to be a turncoat […]
Poland is really making a reputation for itself in EU circles at the moment – not for the right reasons. They are again forcing their idea that voting weights in Council should be proportional to the square root of a country’s population, not directly proportional to population – as proposed […]
A colleague at work mentioned MySociety‘s new website to me – Neighbourhood Fix It. This is a site that allows you to report all kinds of minor problems in your area. I’ve just used it to report a major pothole on my cycle route between Waterloo and Elephant & Castle. […]
She has risen fast in German politics, Ursula von der Leyen. A CDU member since 1990, she has been family and health minister in Angela Merkel’s government since 2005, and now is taking her family politics to the EU level with calls to make EU policies more family friendly – […]
So the EU is 50. It has its Berlin declaration. Plus it there’s already plenty of wrangling over what the phrase in the Declaration “We are united in our aim of placing the EU on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009” actually means. According to Mark Mardell on […]
The EU has always managed to keep a sense of perspective thanks to it history. The European Coal and Steel Community, and the Treaty of Rome that marked the founding of the EEC – 50 years ago tomorrow – were based on the need to ensure European countries never again […]
I was a little startled to read today that both the BBC and The Guardian were speculating that Gordom Brown becoming Prime Minister would mean the end of Peter Mandelson as European Commissioner for Trade. The Guardian even talks of ‘speculation in Brussels’ as being behind this. Mandelson has himself […]
I’m supposed to be on holiday, but I am after all spending a week in Åre with a very political bunch of people… So Monday, Tuesday, Thursday (today) have been devoted to the SVT television programme Ordförande Persson (Chairman Persson), a four part documentary (final part is Monday so I’ll […]
