There have been rumblings for a while about the inbalance in the UK political system where MPs from Wales and Scotland can decide legislation only applying to England. There was also the absurd example of Scottish MP John Reid, representing a Scottish constituency, but yet being Secretary of State for […]
Recent Posts
Groucho Marx and the Commission concours
I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. Groucho Marx Well, what has that quote got to do with the European Commission’s selection process, the famous concours? It’s the first time I have written about the concours here but I am indeed one of the […]
Is this a progressive politician?
OK, anything must be better than Silvio Berlusconi, but you have to get a bit scared when one of the first references to Romano Prodi in recent times on BBC News Online talks of his plans to reconstruct a Catholic pilgrim route – see this. It is clear that Prodi’s […]
Deception on the way to Stockholm
OK, travelling with budget airlines is never pleasant. But yesterday on the way to Stockholm it made me really angry. First of all the bus – the Green Line 757 service from London Victoria to Luton Airport. I get on the bus and ask for a return to Luton, and […]
Why can’t Swedes understand that life is good? [Updated, 05.11.2005]
It’s one year before the next general election in Sweden, and I am forever surprised by the very negative nature of the political debate. Look at Sweden from almost anywhere else in Europe and things look very, very good. So why can’t the Swedes see it? As a starting point, […]
Bus etiquette
It was almost exactly a year ago when I was shouted at on a bus in Brussels for not having left my seat in favour of a pensioner. I was in the wrong then and had not really been concentrating. Since then I have aimed to pay the utmost attention […]
No to scanners at railway stations
What a ludicrous idea. The government has announced that it is going to start a pilot to install bag-scanners in some railway stations, starting with Heathrow Express departures from Paddington – see this from the BBC. Now, UK railway stations are already crowded enough with the cumbersome ticket barriers that […]
Theory, practice and federalism
OK, so my time in JEF is over. It gives me free evenings, and the release from the responsibility is so, so welcome. But the Congress in Strasbourg leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. The main political resolutions I wrote – on the situation facing the […]
German coalition: what’s going on now?
Well, people might not have liked the idea much, but Merkel sat down with the SPD and it looked like everything was going to plan to make a grand coalition. Merkel would be Bundeskanzler, and the SPD would hold the finance and foreign ministries. But in the last few days […]
Finally home – journeys should not be like this!
You sometimes have to ask yourself whether anything else could possibly go wrong on a journey. I have had just about anything and everything over the past 22 hours. The fog at Baden Airpark was so thick yesterday evening that it almost looked like it was snowing under the floodlights. […]
Off for my final swansong in JEF
Quick blog from Stansted Airport just before my 07h20 flight to Baden Baden, before heading on to Strasbourg for the JEF Congress. I have just a couple of days more in JEF, and it’s both with relief and sadness that I am on my way out. Fingers crossed that the […]
A little bit of Europe in my pocket
No, Britain has not joined the Euro (alas). But UK citizens have finally been given European Health Insurance cards – pictured. A number of countries, including the UK, had 2 year derogations to the Directive. All EU citizens should have the cards by the end of 2005. Any information about […]