The British newspapers have been full of analysis of the resignations of Jacqui Smith and Hazel Blears, but the big news is still to come with Brown’s cabinet reshuffle, pencilled in for either tomorrow or Monday next week. For me
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Just a normal EU day really
I like the European Parliament elections. It makes EU stuff interesting and now is one of the few times that the mainstream media is interested in EU matters. At short notice I was contacted by BBC Radio 5 Live this
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Tech, the EP elections, and Norway
Bente and I have just given a presentation at the Norwegian Mission to the EU about the use of technology for politics. The slides we used are below, and here are a few links to some other things we mentioned
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The simple quest for a postage stamp (and what it says about Belgium)
Today is a bank holiday in Belgium. But for me that means little – I have projects to complete, so I need to work. In addition I urgently need to post a letter to the UK, but I’m out of
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Now is always the wrong time for opponents of electoral reform
As the initial anger about MPs expenses starts to subside a little, so proposals for more radical changes to British politics emerge as means to restore public confidence in the system. Alan Johnson has backed calls for a referendum on
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Some wacky ways to improve the EU
I’m rather conscious that I have a tendency to rant and complain on this blog. So after some interesting questions posed by the audience at an event organised by le Cercle québécois des affaires internationales where I was the speaker
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The rocky road from Whistleblower to MEP
I knew Marta Andreasen was UKIP Treasurer, yet until yesterday I had been unaware she is number 2 on UKIP’s election list in the South East. I’m not normally in the business of scutinising election lists for a party that
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Libertas: we want some of the politics of anti-politics too
Today’s Libertas e-mail states “we rolled out a video that’s flying around the blogosphere” – well 324 views is not exactly flying, and that’s how many people have seen the video as I write. You can view it below. My
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Westminster implications for the Brussels gravy train?
As the drip-drip of expenses allegations continue to emerge in Westminster, is there any implication for Brussels, the EU of course not being well known for its standards of propriety among its politicians…? The specific point relates to the European
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Ireland – the referendum, EP elections and the Commission
The European Parliament has had to make one formal adjustment for June’s elections – as opposed to the 750 MEPs foreseen in the Treaty of Lisbon (rejected by the Irish), 732 MEPs will instead be elected. A few countries get
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Painful Montréal Marathon, 1:50
The picture is from lap 8 of Sunday’s Montréal Roller Marathon. Ouch, what a race. First of all, the weather – 6 degrees at the start, and very windy. The race is around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – on an
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Record €1.06 billion fine for Intel makes it the 18th highest contributor to the EU budget
The European Commission today announced a record €1.06 billion fine for Intel for anti-competitive behaviour – essentially for striking deals with PC manufacturers to prevent them buying chips from rival AMD. More details from European Voice here. €1.06 billion is
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