Jon Worth's Euroblog

01.08.2006 UK Politics

The era of tribal political leadership is over. Really?

Tony Blair has been in California for the last couple of days, and gave a speech to News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch’s media firm) during his visit. Quite apart from the moral issue of whether Blair should be speaking to News

31.07.2006 UK Politics

Lance Price – the hollow core of New Labour

I’ve been a bit slow to get round to reading The Spin Doctor’s Diary, Lance Price’s [link to Amazon here] account of his 3 years working in Number 10 and Millbank between 1998 and 2001 – my apologies to readers

31.07.2006 Technology

The future’s bright, the future’s, erm, in India

My home ADSL line started to become unreliable a 6 weeks ago, just at the time when Wanadoo became Orange Broadband. I think this is just a co-incidence, but being constantly connected and disconnected yesterday prompted me to call the

29.07.2006 UK Politics

Preach and poo but don’t drink

What should be allowed in London’s best known square – Trafalgar Square? This was the issue on my mind as I stood in front of the National Gallery waiting to meet a friend this afternoon. The place is quite busy

28.07.2006 Observations

Tie a knot in the dogs’ throats

It’s 23:09 on a Friday night and I am writing blog entries. Why? Because for some bizarre reason there have been a whole load of dogs barking in the near vicinity for the last hour that have been keeping me

28.07.2006 EU Politics

Denmark the Number 1 place to live, presumably only if you’re Danish

The BBC has this evening posted this article on its website about a ‘happiness map’ produced by an academic at the University of Leicester. Denmark comes out first, followed by Switzerland. While I have no doubt that for the majority

28.07.2006 EU Politics

Feeling sorry for the European Commission

The European Commission is going to have to face a staff cut – or so it seems after EU Finance Ministers have suggested that 1700 staff that retire between 2007 and 2013 should not be replaced. A good summary can

28.07.2006 UK Politics

Bizarre weather

I know it’s a very British thing to do, but I am going to write about the weather. Admittedly I have only been living in London about 2 years, but I have lived in Britain for most of my life,

26.07.2006 EU Politics

How euro-party-political are you?

Back at the 2004 European Parliament elections, I worked on a project called VoteMatch with some fellow students at the College of Europe (Bob Aal and Tamara Anthony). I met up with Bob recently in London and he reminded me

25.07.2006 UK Politics

Now I register my opposition to ID cards in the UK

The whole ID card debate [BBC Q&A] has not even been at the top of the political agenda for weeks or maybe even months, but today the final die has been cast that means I have to abandon my position

24.07.2006 Observations

Petty criminality

For the second time in just over a fortnight, I have been on the wrong end of some petty criminality. Today the front wheel of my bike was stolen from just outside the offices where I work close to Victoria

23.07.2006 Observations

1km of swimming, need more training

I feel quite pleased with myself today – I cycled over to the Tooting Bec Lido and swam there with some friends from the civil service. The pool is 90m long; make a bit of a change from normal swimming