“If last week was the week of Cameron’s walk out, this week has been the week of recriminations, with newspaper column inches full of talk of Nick Clegg involved in spats with Tories and France. While in some way it is good that EU politics is front page news, I...
“If you are in favour of the UK remaining a Member State of the European Union, this week’s summit was a disaster. If you want Britain to leave the EU there are some reasons to rejoice. It’s that simple. The agreement is that the 17 Member States of the Eurozone,...
“No-one can have expected the fissure in the UK’s relationship with the EU to come so soon, but the stormy discussions at the European Council in Brussels last night confirm a parting of ways that has probably been inevitable. The exact consequences of what happened – when it comes to...
“7000 attendees, more than 500 delegates, dozens of well known German and European politicians, and one notable elderly man in a wheelchair – Helmut Schmidt. Today is the start of the SPD Partietag in Berlin (live news in German here), the German Social Democrats’ equivalent of Labour Party Conference, and...
“This week I was invited to speak at Exeter University Debating Society, opposing the motion “This house believes Britain is better off out of the European Union.” I had agreed to participate before knowing the identity of the two speakers in favour of the motion, only to discover they were...
“Poul Nyrup Rasmussen has today announced he is standing down as President of the PES. Over a period that has been one of relative decline for the left across Europe, Poul has been a voice of determination and reason; I’m sad to see him go, especially as he’s miles better...
“When I joined the Labour Party as a wide-eyed 16-year old I’m pretty sure it was not with the aim of just being pragmatic. It was because governments of Thatcher and Major had made a mess of the town where I had grown up and there was a pressing urgency...
“On the day before Labour Party Conference, Ed Miliband announced a policy that Labour would restrict student fees to £6000 rather than the Tories’ £9000 level. Everyone shrugged. Here was a short term, tactical announcement that made no effort to get to the heart of the problem about financing of...
“Another week, and another remarkable series of events in the Eurozone. Lucas Papademos was sworn in Friday as Prime Minister of Greece, prompting a market surge. The day after, Berlusconi resigned as Italian PM, with former European Commissioner Mario Monti a probable successor. When stock markets open on Monday morning,...
“In yesterday’s Observer Ed Miliband wrote a piece entitled “business, finance and politics are out of touch with people”, talking of how the protests at St Paul’s have highlighted the growing gulf between the values of ordinary people and those of The City. The problem for Ed, and indeed any...
“The government talks about repatriation of EU powers. What does this actually mean, and could it work? The only solution the government seems to be able to offer to its braying backbenchers in light of last week’s debate on an EU referendum is to propose to repatriate powers to the...
“Over the last week, many on the left have been crowing at the sight of the Tories going into self-destruct mode over Europe. Cameron has brought this upon himself, they say, playing up to the Eurosceptic gallery and surrounding himself with rightwingers for whom EU membership was the overriding reason...