The European Union has been trying to get rid of roaming charges for mobile phones for years, first for calls and for SMS, and then subsequently for data. One aspect of it is a so called “Fair Use Policy” – i.e. under what terms I can continue to use my...
“Was it really a year since the last one?” you’re perhaps asking yourselves. Yes, just as Brussels eases itself back to work after the summer break, Jean Claude pops up to tell everyone why everything is going swimmingly (or not) depending on your point of view. This year Juncker’s State...
When, in a couple of years, we look back at the car crash that was the Brexit referendum and its aftermath, 4th September 2016 ought to stand out as the day when the post-referendum problems really started. Theresa May, we better not forget, had a relatively calm summer. The Tories...
This is a sequel to the post “12 ways to make it look like Brexit has happened“ So my tongue in cheek post about ways to make it look like Brexit has happened turned out to be a huge success. Newspapers Tabloids have even repeated some of the ideas! But...
2017 is election year in France. Le Pen is stealing votes from the traditional republican right and Nicolas Sarkozy, never one to shy away from stealing ideas to the right of him, thinks that he’s on to something to promise to tear up the Le Touquet agreement between the UK...
A sequel to this post is now available! “12 MORE ways to make it look like Brexit has happened“ It’s now two months since the UK’s EU referendum, but all has gone rather quiet on the Brexit front. The British voted for Brexit, not only has it not happened, but...
I’ve never voted Conservative and, considering that I am a lefty, the chances I ever am going to do so are pretty damned slim. That means I have been on the losing side in many elections I’ve voted in, most recently in 2015 (yes, I live in Germany, but I...
In amongst the Brexiteer rants on Twitter in response to my post about why Brexit will not happen, there was one long and thoughtful response. I’ve reproduced each point here as quotes, and then replied to each – that I think makes the response more coherent to read. 1. I...
UPDATE: there is a good, meticulous reply to my blog entry – that text and my response to it is here. Do have a read of that before reading the stuff below! Despite going out of my way in my blog entry about why Brexit will not happen to make...
This blog entry is going to be like a red rag to a bull to some people. The focus, as readers who persevere beyond this first paragraph will see, is on the practicalities of why Brexit will not happen, not on whether Brexit is right or wrong, or what sort...
tl;dr – if you’re looking for a portable, battery powered, wireless card reader for use on holiday, this is an excellent gadget. It’s especially good if you use an iOS mobile. I’ve just returned from a 3 week trip to Central Asia. Throughout this trip I knew that I and...
Brexit, and the economic and political consequences of it, is serious. So why then has the UK appointed its least serious front line politician, Boris Johnson, as its Foreign Minister? (backed up by the little better Davis, Fox and Leadsom) That’s the question that politicians and journalists across the EU...