Jon Worth's Euroblog

03.04.2007 EU Politics / UK Politics

The best picture of Margaret Thatcher you’ll ever see

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

02.04.2007 Observations

So the employers are out there…

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

02.04.2007 UK Politics

BoKlok for Gateshead, ISO freight containers for London?

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

30.03.2007 UK Politics

The Queen’s eternal youth

The Bank of England has issued a new Â£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

29.03.2007 Technology

I’m not Hain’s friend, and I don’t want Cruddas spam

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…

29.03.2007 EU Politics

Poland: go to hell on square roots

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

29.03.2007 Technology

Pothole reporting

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

27.03.2007 EU Politics

What should we make of the Supermutterpowertochter?

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

26.03.2007 EU Politics

Merkel – back to the future?

So the EU is 50. It has its Berlin declaration. Plus itÃ‚Â there’s already plentyÃ‚Â of wrangling over what the phrase in the DeclarationÃ‚Â “We are united in our aim of placing the EU on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament

24.03.2007 EU Politics

EU: for once it’s safer to look back than forward

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

22.03.2007 EU Politics

Brown vs. Mandy: how little the British press know about the Commission

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

22.03.2007 EU Politics

Göran Persson, picking over his legacy

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),