Jon Worth's Euroblog

12.10.2006 Observations

Growing mushrooms

You never know what you are going to get when you move into a new flat. But mushrooms growing on the kitchen floor is not something I was expecting when I moved to my new place in Walworth. The mushroom

10.10.2006 EU Politics

EU Bureaucrats are too powerful. So do something, Verheugen! [Updated]

Commission Vice President Günter Verheugen has had a rant that too many senior officials in the European Commission are too powerful, and want to take decisions themselves rather than letting the Commissioners know what’s going on – see this article

10.10.2006 Technology

Blogging back in the real world

After a quick cup of coffee to warm myself up, I headed back out of the plush surroundings of Claridge’s hotel and cycled back across London under the heavy autumn skies. I’m back in reality now. I have a few

10.10.2006 Technology

LIVE from the Edelman blogging event at Claridge’s, London

I’m sat writing from the Edelman blogging event this morning with Iain Dale, Richard Edelman, Nick Reynolds (BBC), Kevin Anderson (Guardian), Peter Hirshberg as the speakers. Has not been a good start – it’s been pouring with rain and I

09.10.2006 UK Politics

Peter Mandelson, forever the dashing Price of Darkness

I’ve just returned from an evening at the LSE debate entitled ‘The Global Age: Europe, India, China‘ – more here. The debate was all good stuff – Anthony Giddens and Will Hutton talking of the value of European integration, and

06.10.2006 UK Politics

Jack Straw in a veil

Leader of the House Jack Straw has waded into Britain’s debate about multi-culturalism over the last couple of days, stating that he asks Muslim women wearing a veil to remove it when he meets them at surgeries in his Blackburn

06.10.2006 Observations

Getting all domestic

I’m now the wrong side of 25, have moved into a new flat to live with my girlfriend, and we have settled into a very domestic kind of life. The highlight of the week has been… the arrival of a

05.10.2006 UK Politics

PC Omar Basha and the Israeli Embassy – what’s all the fuss?

I am utterly perplexed as to why the issue of the redeployment of PC Alexander Omar Basha away from security duties at the Israeli Embassy in London has caused such a fuss – see this article from The Guardian that

04.10.2006 EU Politics

Sights and smells of London

It is a bright, clear Autumn morning in London. A scattering of brown autumn leaves covered the pathway outside my flat and the air really felt cool when cycling for the first time since spring. Yet the sun over Walworth’s

04.10.2006 EU Politics

What can Labour learn from the Swedish and Austrian elections? EUROPA-Soirée, 17 Oct

Elections have just taken place in Sweden and Austria, with very differing fortunes for centre-left parties. In Sweden, a resurgent right managed to win a narrow victory. The ‘Nya Moderaterna’ have a dynamic young leader – sounds a bit like

02.10.2006 EU Politics

Josep Borrell is a prat

President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell, when talking about the Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament, last week stated that the “historic dimension [of Strasbourg] cannot be perceived in the same way in ‘some Nordic country’ which did not

02.10.2006 UK Politics

Mixed messages from the Tories

What is going on at Tory party conference? I can understand the electoral appeal of trying to move a party to the middle ground, but the Tories seem to be trying to be greener than Labour, all nice and cuddly,