Here I sit writing this blog entry on a Sunday night in Berlin. The Kreuzberg streets outside my window are quiet now; earlier today they were thronged with people in the January sun. I do not know where those people were from who were passing outside my window – Berlin,...
đš This guide is now over 6 years old. And I am now looking for a new flat in Berlin. You can read about that here. And a whole new guide will be written at the end of the process as well! đš I moved to Berlin on 26th October...
The former Tempelhof Airport is one of Berlin’s extraordinary places. The former airport is a huge open space in the city, and is larger even than Tiergarten (the park / forest further north in the city). Slow Travel Berlin has an excellent history of the airport and the field in...
2014 is going to be quite a year for the EU. It’s election time! And will we all toast the end of JosĂ© Manuel Barroso’s political career? And Ashton too? And might election turnout increase to a level higher than Viviane Reding’s hair? Anyway, these, and any other EU question,...
Mit Blick auf die Europawahl 2014 initiieren die Stiftung Mercator und der Zeitbild Verlag das Projekt âRE:INVENT EUROPE – Jugend gestaltet Europa”, das Jugendliche in Nordrhein-Westfalen dazu motivieren soll, sich kreativ mit der europĂ€ischen Idee auseinanderzusetzen und eigene Ideen fuÌr ein zukunftsfĂ€higes Europa zu entwickeln. Jon Worth, Europa-Blogger und Politikberater,...
Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament and wannabe Commission President, was on BBC World’s Hard Talk yesterday (4th December 2013), and used the following words: You used the term that I am a European federalist. I have never in my life used it that I am a European federalist....
When I worked for National School of Government I used to accompany groups of UK civil servants on study trips to Brussels. The aim was that these visits would give the civil servants a first taste of the EU environment. On one visit to the European Parliament an old friend...
I joined Twitter (@jonworth) just over five years ago. Now with 40659 tweets, 9665 followers, and following 4641, I have accumulated a fair amount of experience using the network – and that’s just with my own personal account, let alone the dozens of accounts I have for other purposes. I’ve...
When changes to EU law are going to have an impact on business, businesses lobby. That is normal. That business tries to use financial clout to increase its influence in Brussels is also normal; that’s why we need things like the transparency register and websites like LobbyPlag to see who...
“âOur national interest lies in staying in the European Unionâ says Ed Miliband. Nick Clegg does the same, stating “Liberal Democrats, it falls for us to stand up for the national interest, we will be the party of ‘In’.” Even Cameron states âLeaving the EU is not in our national...
An association for European Young Entrepreneurs. Sounds like a fine idea, right? Well, not if you mean the Association EuropĂ©ene des Jeunes Entrepreneurs – AEJE (website here). The sole purpose of this organisation seems to be simply to attack all efforts to achieve a single seat for the European Parliament, and to...
I saw this tweet earlier today from UKIP MEP Derek Clark, complaining that now the “EU is coming for our vacuum cleaners”. His tweet links to this story from the Nottingham Post. So then, with “is this UKIP bullshit” warning system activated in my mind, I set out to find...