For years I have made pretty much every long distance trip I can by train. Conference in Iași? Sure, train via Ukraine to get there. Teaching in Geneva? Night train back to Berlin. Holiday in the Balkans? I’m the one
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What’s up with this 9th European Parliament?
It’s two years since the 2019 European Election, marking the start of this 9th term of the European Parliament. And for a while I have had this nagging feeling that something is not right about the Parliament in this term.
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Brexit. That’s pretty much it from me.
This Twitter thread by Holger Hestermeyer caught my eye yesterday: https://x.com/hhesterm/status/1395469311435841536 Holger is one of those brilliant people who I’ve encountered thanks to Brexit, one of a whole community of people who have painstakingly pointed out all the technical, legal,
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Something doesn’t add up (or how tweeting openly about gaps in our knowledge about vaccine supply can get better answers that classical journalism)
Back in 2013 when we naively thought social media could be a force for political good, Andy Carvin wrote a book called Distant Witness, which was about his experiences covering and understanding political upheaval from the other side of the world,
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Coalition options for Germany after the 2021 Bundestag Election
Germany’s proportional election system (Mixed-member system), six parties represented in the Bundestag (CDU/CSU, SPD, AfD, FDP, Die Linke, Grüne) of which five could possibly participate in a government (only AfD would not), and no party likely to receive more than
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The problem when journalists don’t ask the obvious question
Yesterday the European Parliament Conference of Presidents agreed that two Committees – INTA and AFET – would vote on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) this week, but that any decision as to when the plenary of the European
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No, I am not about to start a newsletter or a podcast
A Twitter thread by Jeff Jarvis caught my eye yesterday. “I far prefer blogs to email newsletters & podcasts” Jeff wrote, and I agree with him. I mused about why this was over my morning espresso. I pondered further during
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European Parliament: if you take Brexit scrutiny seriously, why not call Frost to give evidence?
Days before the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) finally emerged on Christmas Eve, the European Parliament had already expressed its concern at the process, and refused to be bounced into last minute ratification as the House of Commons was.
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Brexit, coordination, leadership and accountability: questions for the EU side too
The elevation of David Frost to Cabinet, and him largely replacing Michael Gove as the UK Government’s coordinator of all things Brexit, understandably generated considerable debate. Jill Rutter penned a piece for UK in a Changing Europe about what we
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A proposal for Keir Starmer: make politics simple
Does Keir Starmer think Ministers should act legally? We don’t really know. Apparently the public do not think politicians should ask for other politicians’ heads during a health crisis, so that’s Labour’s line: https://x.com/robpowellnews/status/1363412677691920394 There is a legitimate argument to
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The personal psychological cost of the consumption of Brexit bullshit
For years on this blog I have painstakingly been documenting the Brexit saga – in more than 50 diagrams and more than 200 blog posts. I don’t know if anyone can really have described themselves as a Brexit expert back
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Ratification delay, and avoiding a No Deal Brexit – we’re not yet out of the woods
One of the consequences of leaving it so late – 24 December 2020 – to agree The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was that ratification could not be completed before the Agreement entered into force on 1 January 2021.
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