Daniel Korski has written a short piece at Spectator Coffee House entitled Where has the pro-EU camp gone? It’s a valid question to ask, if you view UK politics along the traditional lines of pro-EU versus anti-EU. The problem is
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Tag: Framing
“The national interest” – the next term to reject in the EU framing fight
“It’s in Britain’s national interest to be in the EU” – it pains me how often we hear that phrase (or words that that effect) in speeches made by UK politicians about the EU. Yet we very seldom question its
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We need to stop being cheerleaders for the status quo
One of the responses to the Tory rebellion yesterday on the EU referendum vote has – rather predictably – been a call for ‘pro-Europeans’ to be more assertive. Clegg has said Britain should lead and not leave the EU, and
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The Atheist Bus Campaign has re-framed the UK’s ‘debate’ on religion
The Atheist Bus Campaign is the biggest thing I’ve ever done, and may prove to be the biggest thing I ever will do. It was more than three years ago that the original campaign started, and it still lives on.
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Portugal’s emergency loan – why ‘bailout’ is the wrong word
I was on the BBC World Service programme “World Have Your Say” (programme site, blog) earlier to talk about the implications of the election success of Timo Soini’s True Finns party in yesterday’s parliamentary election. The discussion briefly examined the
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‘Now is not the time to put the environment in the back seat’ – some framing lessons for Janez Potočnik
Yet more EU politics reflections via Twitter today – I saw this from Janez Potočnik, Environment Commissioner: 'Now is not the time to put the environment in the back seat'. My speech to Greek parliamentary committees today http://tinyurl.com/3gjm5cl — Janez Potočnik
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Britain national interest in the EU, or citizens’ interests in the EU?
It’s so easy for non-EU-phobic politicians in the UK to slip into it: a discourse that membership of the European Union is ‘in Britain’s national interest’. Wayne David’s recent piece for Labour List uses the term three times. Ben Fox,
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Britain and Europe: In, out or somewhere in between? – well, that’s the wrong question for a start
The Fabians are running an event tomorrow entitled “Britain and Europe: In, out or somewhere in between?” I can’t attend the event as I’m in Austria at the moment, so I’ll raise a few points here instead. Frankly, the very
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The marketing sense of an elephant – Commission Representation to Belgium
One of my favourite political books – mentioned on this blog before – is Don’t Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff. The idea behind the title is to show what happens when the wrong words are used. You read
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Möjligheternas Land – how social democrats need a bit of Swedish optimism
I’ve been at a conference in Brussels this morning organised by the Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) and I was asked to give a presentation about Social Democracy in the e-society era – you can find my slides here.
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Framing the debate: Future of the BBC
There’s something deeply wrong with the ‘debate’ currently going on about the future of the BBC, and I think it boils down to the essential question: what is the value of public service broadcasting? Two themes dominate the debate at
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An end to pro-European stodginess
European Citizen has an interesting and thoughful post about why Guy Verhofstadt’s statement that “The three largest groups in the European Parliament announced today their commitment to pro-European values” is essentially the wrong approach. European Citizen’s critique is not too
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