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 […]
I’m now sat writing from the Alfandega conference centre – a sprawling old building beside the Douro river. Clearly plenty of cash has been spent on this Congress – huge banners and signs are to be found at every corner. The Delegate Bags are no exception; they come complete with […]
It’s 9.30 on the first day of the congress. Only I’m not there yet. I’m sat in cafe beside the River Douro, escaping the driving rain. However the cafe has a whole Phil Collins CD playing, and the track that’s just been playing was “I Wish It Would Rain Down” […]
Part of my task as a blogger at the PES Congress is to demystify what is going on there for those that are unable to be present on the spot. Yet it’s also worth spending a moment to demystify the very process of writing the blog and keeping it up […]
“The constitutional treaty is no more – it is a diseased dead parrot.” So said Home Secretary John Reid after the 4th December JHA Council in Brussels (article from EUObserver). Now, I’m not the greatest fan on John Reid – I think his views on law and order are repulsive, […]
I went along to a round table discussion this evening, organised by Policy Network and CER. Former Swedish Finance Minister Pär Nuder and UK Minister for the Third Sector Ed Miliband were speaking. The debate was interesting enough, but more importantly it started me thinking about Pär Nuder’s political ideology […]
I have the great privilege of having been chosen as one of the PES Activists to write a blog on the Party of European Socialists Website about the PES Congress taking place 7-8 December in Porto. The blog can be found here. However the functionality of the system there is […]
I’m an honest person. I pay my taxes. Well, I do when I can. Or when I’m asked. It however seems that Southwark Borough Council does not really want any money from me. As soon as I moved to Villa Street (8th September) I sent them a letter telling them […]
I happened to be looking for something related to my time at Oxford and wondered how Oxford University Student Union is getting on. I used to serve on the Exec there, and also was the OUSU Webmanager for a year or so. I was shocked to discover that one of […]
I’m really struggling on the blogging front at the moment. I have so much work to do – both in the office and in my ‘free’ time – that it’s extremely hard to get my thoughts in order to write anything significant about the EU at present. It also does […]
