There are plenty of rivalries that you could argue have some sort of justification, yet the ongoing disputes over the name Macedonia strike me as totally ludicrous. I’ve come across few issues in EU politics that contain such fire as when you tell a Greek that ‘Macedonia’ wants to join […]
Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, has today released a statement calling for a national debate about the level of Chief Executives’ pay – read the full statement here, and a news summary from The Scotsman here. (Worth noting that top public sector workers in the UK seem to […]
The blogging world is a complex and interesting place. Thanks to Technorati, I have today discovered that my blog has been syndicated by the Danish multi-blog site Progressivt.dk EU Section. Quite a privilege as my posts are there together with syndicated feeds from Dan Jørgensen, Margot Wallström and Ã…sa Westlund. […]
Politicians have the reputation of being boring and grey, and also predominantly male. So how does the UK cabinet shape up? And what might there be on the horizon? If you read until the end of this entry you’ll find the table of stats but – in short – the […]
Step by step people are waking up to the potential of expat voters in elections, or at least realising that the formalities of organising elections need to be improved. According to EUObserver, the European Commission is looking at the issues around getting nationals of other EU states to run, and […]
Only now have I had the opportunity to download and do something with my pictures from the weekend in Lisbon and Porto after the PES Congress. Overall the Portuguese are a stylish bunch, but somehow they manage to let all of their worst tendencies escape when it comes to how […]
I’m now back in the UK after 4 days away in Portugal. I spent yesterday afternoon watching the sunset over the waves of the Atlantic and this morning I was drenched on the way to my office – a dire 1950s building. Feels like a hangover, only without any alcohol […]
The PES Congress in Porto has steadily drawing to a close; the fringe meetings are over, and the final session is about to start. So what are the overall impressions, and what should happen now? First and foremost it has been a fascinating experience to be present here. I do […]
Poul was re-elected as leader of the PES in Porto. This has allowed him to make plenty of speeches on the podium. It’s the first time I have seen Rasmussen perform in the flesh, and he’s actually quite impressive. He comes across as honest, as expressive, and almost emotional in […]
A quick check of Google News this morning maybe explains why Ségolène Royal’s speech yesterday was 100% in French. Searching Google News – French Version – for ‘Ségolène Royal’ gives more than 20 articles about her speech in Porto, with titles such as ‘Ségolène Royal ovationnée au Portugal’ – do […]
The Polish government has been roundly criticised for its stance on a number of EU issues recently – the veto of the EU-Russia Treaty for example. I had perhaps naively assumed that the problems stemmed largely from the positions of the Law & Justice Party that is currently predominant in […]
Somehow the hopes of a continent’s Social Democrats seem to be embodied by Segolene Royal. She gives a reason for hope that somehow a different politics is possible, that the French PS can emerge from the shadows, that the centre-left can re-assume its place as the predominant political family in […]
