I gave a speech this week to PES members of the Committee of the Regions about digital communication in the run up to the European Parliament elections. The Q&A with the members was especially interesting, and one question – from a mayor from Greece – prompted me to write this […]
In a fortnight the House of Commons will almost certainly reject Theresa May’s Brexit deal when the so-called “Meaningful Vote” happens. After that the path ahead is unclear, but one of the ways forward would be for a second Brexit referendum – a People’s Vote – to take place. If […]
A tweet by Alexander Clarkson caught my eye this morning: As long as Remainers reproduce an inaccurate "citizens of somewhere" with a class subtext they will simply keep playing on Brexiter terms — Alexander Clarkson (@APHClarkson) October 30, 2017 Once in a while you read something that crystallises your thinking, […]
At 10pm last night, The Daily Telegraph released a story entitled “Easter egg row: Church of England accuses National Trust of ‘airbrushing’ religion out of children’s egg hunt“, written by its Consumer Affairs Editor Katie Morley. The story concerns the renaming of the Cadbury-National Trust Egg Hunt from ‘Easter Egg […]
New year. Same old UK-EU comms. Two tweets from today: A new year brings new opportunities to debunk EU myths. Here is: things euroscpetics don't want you to know #1! pic.twitter.com/WtGnQx26pe — Richard Corbett (@RCorbettMEP) January 6, 2015 .@damiangreenmp argues that pro-Europeans must 'dispel the myth, fostered by the Better […]
A tweet by Emma Burnell pointed me towards this blog post by Tracy Hill about UKIP, and the threat they pose to Labour. You can read the whole blog post to look at the stuff about UKIP, but there is one paragraph I will highlight, for it shows the problems […]
Two grandees of UK politics were at it again today. Peter Mandelson, while at least acknowledging an in-out referendum for the UK, was nevertheless pompous and deluded in the FT: “pro-Europeans […] should acknowledge that their case has largely been won by default and that it needs to be re-articulated […]
Labour grandee Paul Richards has penned a tremendously misjudged piece on LabourList, so much so I think it deserves to analysed a bit. This is especially vital because the main premise – that Labour can win an election in the UK based on policy – is one still held by […]
It’s budget day in the UK today. Others are far more qualified than I am to discuss the ins and outs of what George Osborne announced. I will instead – with prompting earlier on Twitter from Liz Disley – look at that old nugget of the budget: how it impacts families. […]
Apologies if this is stating the obvious to too many of my readers, but there is no truth about the European Union. The words sound simple enough. But what do I actually mean? People that are in favour of the European Union and their country’s continued membership of it have […]
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 (@JanezPotocnik22) April 7, 2011 The link leads through to a […]
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 that title and of course you think of an elephant. […]