Her Excellency, at last
Women bishops. What exactly is the problem? The arguments against seem essentially to be: - Jesus didn’t have female disciples amongst the twelve. Given he was so counter-cultural, if it mattered to him surely he would have done. - Women were...
On How To Make Use Of A Mobile eBook Reader
Some months ago I had contemplated going deeper into technologies and issues of e-books and mobile e-book readers. Starting point was some kind of discontent with the format of a blog for articles that exceed some threshold of length comfortable to b...
Is There Global Economic Slowdown In The Works?
According to Ralph Atkins writing in the Financial Times last week, “the pace of Germany’s recovery is helping dispel fears of a “double dip” recession across the continent as a result of the crisis over public finances in southern Europe...
Online editorial models #05 – The Huffington Post case
The Huffington Post, created in May 2005, is the new current star amongst online media. Forget about Slate, Salon and don’t event think about old media venturing into the digital era. HuffPo beats them all. For its five-years-old birthday gift, in...
After the Polish Presidential Election: Fight to Keep the Victory
WASHINGTON—Bronislaw Komorowski’s victory in last Sunday’s presidential elections in Poland gives the Warsaw government a rare window of opportunity to advance a packed domestic reform and foreign policy agenda. With a fellow member of the cent...
Diane 4 Leader – it’s not about the candidate as such, it’s more important than that
“If in 1994 you’d wanted to understand what our lives would be like right now, you’d still be better off reading a single copy of Wired magazine published in that year than all of the sceptical literature published ever since” was a class...
European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 13 July
A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:100 BC - birth...
Roman Polanski FREE ! Another Oh Yeah Moment!
Roman Polanski is FREE! Yep - the Swiss, for all their recent idiotic Islamophobia, have issued what appears to be a rebuke of American injustice system. The legally fishy case was seen through by the Swiss, along with questionable documents and the...
The EU and mobile phone / 3G data roaming
I have respect for the UK blog Political Betting – I never bet on anything, but I like Mike Smithson’s rigourous analysis of odds. However when it comes to anything to do with the European Union reason and rigour seem to go out of the window. Tak...
Perceptions and the growth of protectionism
The following article was published in New Europe on 12 July: China is rightly proud of its achievements – particularly the way it came through the global and financial crisis – and also in its successful organizing of the Olympic Games and Shang...
If only you knew what really goes on in the European Parliament
One of the things I have found most frustrating in my 10 years as an MEP is the seeming impossibility of getting information on the EU and what we do as MEPs out to a wider audience. Indeed, one of the reasons I started this blog was to put forward...
Sticking to your guns
The new Slovakian government is not bowing to pressure over its refusal to sign off on the eurozone bailout package. After a meeting with European Union Council President Herman van Rompuy tonight, Slovakian Prime Minister Iveta Radicova said, when a...
Cyber suicide – RIP ‘Julien Frisch’
In a recent post I wrote about how I had met a young and very active blogger, Julien Frisch. Julien was a perceptive and at times caustic critic of the European Union’s policy and legislative processes, but he was above all a European democrat,...
Mapping the Euroblogosphere: what are the must-read EU political blogs?
Difficult question, one to which we would be tempted to answer: all of them. But as that wouldn’t be of much help, we’ve had a go at making our own selection of the must-read EU political blogs, also known as Euroblogs. Inspired by previous at...
Workers Power’s weasel words on the holocaust
One of the most interesting debates at Workers Liberty’s ‘Ideas for Freedom’ event this weekend was the debate on Israel-Palestine. Camilla Bassi spoke for Workers Liberty and, imho, wiped the floor with the guy from WP – but...
Say you're Spanish and proud (ABC, Madrid)
The Spanish football team have won the Cup, beating the Netherlands in the finals. This is the greatest triumph in the history of Spanish football, which, coming on top of other victories of no lesser importance, puts Spain in the vanguard of major w...
Hermeneutics of Buddhist Ecology (Guest Commentary II)
Although one may not find the notion of ecology or environmentalism in Buddhism, yet through reinterpreting Buddhist ethics and philosophy, we may discover such messages in Buddhist tradition and practice. Therefore, I critically analyze the concept...
Libel migrates across the pond
Many of my fellow ex-pat friends have joked about the ‘reverse migration’ we see of Americans moving to Europe in search of a better, more comfortable life. But according to a recent article by the New York Observer, we may not be alone in this t...
ACTA negotiators inform the Parliament in secret
The ACTA negotiators from the Commission came to the European Parliament today, to inform the Parliament about what happened in the last round of negotiations in Luzern. However, the meeting where the information was to be given was declared ”i...
Europe in Crisis or Union in the Building ?
Since I’ve been watching closely at Europe (I started at the time of the French Referendum on the Constitution in 2005) Europe seemed to have been in a crisis or another : Institutional crisis, political crisis, and now economical crisis…...
The Market Confidence Bugaboo
A specter is haunting Europe – the spectre of “market confidence.” It may have been fear of communism that agitated governments when Karl Marx penned the opening line of his famous manifesto in 1848, but today it is the dread that market sentim...
Franziska Brantner: Europe’s new external action service
The EEAS has just been agreed upon in outline. Franziska Brantner, MEP, participated in the negotiations and tells us the priorities for the European Parliament and how EU foreign action could become more democratic. No related posts.
Spanish smacker: Netherlands beaten to world cup 2010
They were in the final three times, they lost three times - the Netherlands conceded the Fifa championship to La Roja, who won their first ever title on 11 July. The Spanish, Dutch, Czech and Swedish press urges politicians to learn from the harmonio...
Athens forced to buys subs and helicopters (Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, Warsaw)
“In the midst of an economic crisis, the Greek government is spending billions on arms,” leads an indignant Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. In March, the government of George Papandreou signed a deal to purchase two submarines in Germany for a to...
Can Erol: A deserved win for Spain!
Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas kisses the World Cup trophy as team mate Carles Puyol (R) celebrates after their final match victory over Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg July 11, 2010. REUTERS/David Gra...
