Forrest Gump
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It has been a long, hard and sad week. This evening I fancied something ‘cheerful’ so we watched Robert Zemeckis’s 1994 Forrest Gump, one of a number of films that we have decided to watch after our trip to the States. In this c...
Brighton Rock and a Hard Place
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Britain’s Liberal Democrats start gathering for their autumn conference in Brighton tomorrow in what could prove to be a far livelier — in both the good and bad senses of that word — gathering than the somewhat pedestrian official a...
The Respectorate of I: a fairytale by Salman Rushdie
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From Luka and the Fire of Life (chapter 4; The Insultana of Ott): The Mists of Time were getting closer when the Argo passed a strange, sad land on the River’s right bank. Its territory was barred to River travellers by high barbed-wire fences,...
“Au Café de l’Europe” gets a voice…
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Eur@dionantes, a European radio providing broadcasts on a vast array of EU-related topics, knows the power of the words and trusts them to build a European space and to supply it with: Information, in order that people realize they belong … Con...
OECD reports EU farm transfers at lowest level ever - by Alan Matthews
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OECD figures show a continued slight fall in EU transfers to farmers as measured by the Producer Support Estimate indicator.
Would Serbs Trade Kosovo for the EU?
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The question is in the air this week with Belgrade saying it might hold a referendum on Kosovo...
Making the Small Claims Procedure effective
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Since 1 January 2009, the European Small Claims Procedure is in force. Its aim is to improve access to justice by simplifying cross-border small claims litigation in civil and commercial matters and reducing costs and especially to help consumers e...
Morally repugnant tax avoiders can rest easy under David Cameron | Tanya Gold
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With insane hubris, a few treaties and a lot of money moving from tax haven to tax haven is called a successLord Fink, the Tory donor (ennobled 2011) and party treasurer, who succeeded to the post after Peter Cruddas was caught out offering meetings...
The west and the Islamic world should leave one another to live and let live | Deborah Orr
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The two have a vast arrogance in common: both want their values universally accepted and both want to winIf I deliberately wound up an angry, resentful acquaintance to the point where he went on a rampage and murdered someone, I like to thi...
US housing update
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If you haven’t been reading your daily Calculated Risk, the analysts at CreditSights have a useful roundup of this week’s mostly positive US housing data:There was...
Russia: Activist Journalists or Bolshevik Bloggers?
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Anyone following the Russian protest movement cannot help but notice the degree to which many Russian journalists are involved with the opposition. In the age of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, such interpersonal relationships are clearly visible t...
Latest warmist scare: Brain-eating Amoebas!
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Brain-eating Amoebas are the latest global warming scareThe list of all the horrors caused by global warming/climate change seems to be endless. The latest warmist scare is about brain-eating amoebas:This one may be the scariest of all.From The...
Presidential optics vs the tax code
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We’re scratching our heads.The Romneys donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30% of their income.The Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million...
Barroso's Gaffe
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Recently Jose Barroso, the president of the European Commission made some comments about further integration within the EU. This is not a new thing, there have been plenty of mentions of further integration with the ongoing eurozone crisis as many fe...
Portugal: Demonstrations During Presidential Meeting with State Council
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Following September 15's massive anti-austerity protests around Portugal ‘Screw troika! We want our lives', new demonstrations were organized for September 21, the day President Cavaco Silva is holding a meeting of his advisory State Co...
Credit rollovers & rally monkeys
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In the States, we’re still picking our jaws off the floor from the lowest CCC-rated issuance yield on record, earlier this week.In Europe… Societe Generale’s...
Belarus's non-election
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ONE can hardly say Belarus is gripped by election fever. On a notice board in the centre of Zaslawye, a small town outside Minsk, a single A4 poster is the only indication that parliamentary polls will take place on Sunday. It is crowded out by notic...
Belarus's non-election
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ONE can hardly say Belarus is gripped by election fever. On a notice board in the centre of Zaslawye, a small town outside Minsk, a single A4 poster is the only indication that parliamentary polls will take place on Sunday. It is crowded out by notic...
Friday fantasies
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Don't forget to check out the IPKat's Forthcoming Events page! New events are added quite regularly and there may just be one that takes your fancy. Freshly back from Athens, where he was attending the annual MARQUES Conference, this Kat just wan...
Mette Lindberg of The Asteroids Galaxy Tour: ''Mafia' is not a happy song'
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The cosmic and unpredictable Danish band are best known for their track 'Around the Bend' after it featured in a telephone advert in 2008. In early 2012 they released their second album 'Out of Frequency', mixing hip-hop, funk, soul and dance. The ba...
Britain’s prosperity depends on trade with Europe, whatever Ukip may say
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It is high time Britain left the ailing EU and its burdensome regulations and embraced trade with fast-growing emerging economies. That was the argument put forward by Nigel Farage at his keynote speech this morning at the Ukip conference. …...
Economic regeneration is happening. Sort of.
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It would be silly of me to say that recovery is underway. The unemployment figures prove that. Having said that, economic activity, regeneration, is occurring. Take the Stillorgan shopping centre near my house. In the last 18 months, three new busine...
Uncertainty in trade mark practice: why do we bring it upon ourselves?
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This Kat recently met with representatives of a small start-up company, which wished to discuss trade mark protection. The company had already selected a name/mark; however, in doing a search, we found several existing marks that could pose a p...
“If people who swear at the police they must … be arrested”
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Good to hear of a Tory using proper class-war language again: “pleb.” Police Federation calls for Andrew Mitchell to quit over outburst Conservative minister Andrew Mitchell has been urged to resign by Police Federation leaders over...
Morgan Stanley on fundamentals versus monetary policy
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Central bankers in the US and Europe may think they’re engaging in policies accommodative to economic growth, but two can play in this game of acronyms! The team at Morgan...
Britain's prosperity depends on trade with Europe, whatever Ukip may say | Paul Haydon
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Let's listen to small businesses that rely on European trade, not Ukip's invocation to ditch the EU for emerging marketsIt is high time Britain left the ailing EU and its burdensome regulations and embraced trade with fast-growing emerging economies.
Brian Coleman ‘smashed into truck’ leaving scene of alleged assault
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Senior London Tory Brian Coleman drove his car into a truck while attempting to leave the scene of an alleged assault, it was claimed today. The former chair of the London Fire Authority is on bail for on suspicion of common assault after an apparent...
EU Diplomatic on Anti-Islam Video
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Governments across Europe (and elsewhere) have struggled with how best to react to a U.S.-made anti-Islamic video and the violence it has sparked in many Muslim countries. On the one hand, democratic countries want to stand up for freedom of speech a...
Glenstrata extends
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So much for D-Day in the unending saga of the Glencore-Xstrata tie-up.Hot off the RNS feed on Friday:Extension to merger timetableZug, 21 September 2012Glencore International...
First decisions in the critical trial: 3 general gets 20 years at Balyoz Trial
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Turkish generals sentenced to 20 years in jail in coup case from Hurriyet Daily News A court in Istanbul has sentenced retired Air Force Cmdr. Gen. İbrahim Fırtına, retired 1st Army Cmdr. Gen. Çetin Doğan and retired Navy Cmdr. Adm. Özden Örne...
Spanish socialist activists’ give thumbs down to leadership
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Spanish socialist activists have given a massive thumbs down to their leaders for failing to mount an effective opposition to the right-wing Government of Mariano Rajoy that is planning to serve up yet another dose of lethal austerity medicine to the...
Why Employ European Union Workers?
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Introduction to the European Union The European Union (EU) is curently fabricated up of 25 independent, democratic, affiliate states. If accumulated they would represent the worlds better abridgement by GDP, the seventh better breadth in the app...
national parliaments and the EU: key panel themes
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Our opening conference ‘Reinventing global order’ took place yesterday. The variety of interesting panels and talks was such that it would be impossible to report on all. I will offer a few words about the panel on national parliaments (c...
