Fire at Gothic Slovak Castle Casts Shadow Over Polls
NEW
As Slovakia focuses on general elections, Krasna Horka, a monumental gothic castle in the eastern part of the euro-zone nation, burned down after allegedly catching fire from illegal burning of dry grass, officials said Saturday.
The League of Nations – how it might have been
NEW
This evening my neighbour at the dinner table was a descendant of the Cabot Lodges, a distinguished New England family, whose most famous member was Henry Cabot Lodge (picture). Wiki tells us that ‘The summit of Lodge’s Senate career ca...
West Country loses out as Edinburgh and London to host UK Green Investment Bank
NEW
All four West Country bids from Bristol, Gloucester, Torbay and Cornwall (Eden Project) to be home to the UK’s new and first Green Investment Bank (GIB) have been snubbed as Business Secretary Vince Cable announced on Thursday (8th) that the headqu...
Greece Averts Immediate Default With Bond Success … Yet European Financials, US Treasuries And World Government Bonds, Trade Lower On Competitive Currency Devaluation
NEW
Financial Market report for March 9, 2012 Introduction Greece averted immediate default with bond success as 85% Of Greek bondholders swap debt and get 17 cents on the Euro, and New Bonds that yield 20%. Reuters reports ISDA declares Greek credit eve...
Record Low Turnout Seen in Slovak Elections
NEW
Slovaks stayed away from the voting booths in Saturday's snap general election, which was on course to see record low turnout.
Having A Laugh
NEW
Prepare to have some of your most cherished illusions destroyed: Tierisch komisch? Was das #Lachen der #Tiere wirklich bedeutet http://t.co/0dpFghzK March 10, 2012 7:19 pm via rponlineReplyRetweetFavorite @rponline RP ONLINE “What the laughter...
MOOCs: Massive Open Online “Courses”
NEW
“What’s sospecial about a diploma?” This is how Tamar Lewin opens an article entitled“Beyond the College Degree, Online Educational Badges” at the New York Times.The question itself points to the perspective of people who view colleges andu...
Pardons in Mississippi: On the Role of the Supreme Court
NEW
In a 6-to-3decision, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that pardon procedures layoutside of its constitutional authority—that to interfere even in cases wherethose procedures were flouted would violate the separation of powers. Section124 of Miss...
Europe at the Gateshead LibDem Conference
NEW
The agenda of this weekend’s LibDem spring conference in Gateshead has been almost entirely devoted to domestic matters, from tax to the NHS. But this morning, Conference overwhelmingly passed an important motion reaffirming the Party’s b...
German professor speaks out about the latest efforts to save the euro and Greece
NEW
Another German professor, who is prepared to speak out about the latest effort to "save" the euro and prevent Greece from bankruptcy:Nearly 86 percent of private investors have agreed to join in the debt-swap deal that will help Greece avoid an uncon...
China blocking Airbus orders worth $12 billion because of EU´s senseless emission trading scheme
NEW
Representatives of the Brussels EU bureaucracy are still insisting that the inclusion of aviation in the European Union´s senseless emission trading scheme will take place as planned, but - as we have pointed out earlier - this is a fight the...
The unlinked EU blogosphere
NEW
Soon, a blog post of mine titled “On The State of EU Blogging” [link updated] will be published on the new LSE EUROPP blog. One of the claims I make there – without actually proving it – is that EU blogs “mostly coexist...
Bradford West shortlist
NEW
The rapid-fire selection process ahead of the Bradford West by-election is coming to a close this weekend. Shortlisting interviews have taken place today to whittle the longlist down to the final few who will face Bradford West members at the selecti...
The Sound of one Hand Applauding itself
NEW
Meet the pacifist haterZ:"Should politicians be tried for the crisis?"There’s nothing quite like a kangaroo court, or a expression of impotent rage, or (secretely) a public hanging to get Europeans excited. And I think that, even more than bankers...
Web purists vs. web realists
NEW
People who may be regarded as experts in online communications often fall within one of two categories: web purists and web realists. How do they differ? Purists insist on intricate strategy before any tactics are put in place, realists are a little...
The speech I’d like to see Nick Clegg give.
NEW
Hello, my name is Nick Clegg, and if some in the media are to be believed, I’m the most hated politician in Britain. I don’t actually know if that is true, but it is certainly fair to say that I’m a lot less popular than I was befor...
Cyclists Rap
NEW
This is brilliant. Like the man said, it should go viral. That swift kick to the motorist on his mobile and opening his car door – the myopic, self-absorbed bastard – is a commuting cyclist’s fantasy. I rise in th...
Cyclists Rap
NEW
This is brilliant. Like the man said, it should go viral. That swift kick to the motorist on his mobile and opening his car door – the myopic, self-absorbed bastard – is a commuting cyclist’s fantasy. I rise in th...
Labour needs a champion for members
NEW
The creation of a Members and Supporters Directorate is a chance to radically change the way the Labour Party is structured and how it treats those who volunteer their time, energy and money to support it. To say that the Labour Party is somewhat ove...
for the record, LulzSec frontman Sabu was probably an informant.. more on LulzSec crackdown and a cyberculture roundup…
NEW
LulzSec frontman Sabu was FBI informant, fed Stratfor docs to Wikileaks from an FBI-owned computer by Xeni Jardin The Guardian has more on the big hacking news which Fox News broke yesterday (as noted in a post by Rob). “Sabu,” the trash-...
The increasing use of intergovernmentalism: asymetric information and increased transaction costs
NEW
A series of lectures under the title “Post Lisbon Challenges to Europe” started on 10 February, as part of Leiden University’s Honours College and our Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence programme. The first lecture, by Tom de Bruijn,...
Best Music Videos for the US Elections
NEW
I have tuned out of the Republican presidential debates. Too much pandering, too much silly campaign rhetoric. I wrote about their statements on Europe, for instance in Gingrich, Romney rely on Eurobashing to "define their America" and &quo...
Commission’s pensions proposals mean working longer, for less – European Left
NEW
European Left on the European Commission’s regressive pensions proposals and how they will hit women hard. Video...
Leveson tangent
NEW
Politics drifts back into the frame. It was always suggestive that Andy Coulson was appointed head of communications for the Tories two years after he ran an effective spoiler on the George Osborne cocaine use allegations, despite losing his job R...
"The Vagina Monologues" at the European Parliament
NEW
By Lisa Kittel Translated by Susanna Gürocak Exclamations such as “Pussies united!” or “Vagina mother fucker” in the European Parliament? Just almost unimaginable. On Tuesday evening, nine women Members of the European Parliament recited,...
China’s Janus-face on energy and climate policy
NEW
Western environmentalists are often pointing to the clean energy leadership of China to convince their own leaders to act faster and clean up their act. The problem is that China’s energy policy also has its dark (coal) side. Richar...
What makes Question Time audiences so Left-wing?
NEW
The Australian version of BBC Question Time is called Q&A. As you can see from the above clip, filmed when I was in Sydney a couple of weeks ago, the two shows are remarkably similar in format and furniture. There are, though, two differences. Fi...
