URL: Latest posts
The Naked Vlog
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Last week I rashly promised that if my Twitter followers numbered more than 2000 by the end of the week that I'd do my next video blog (of about three), naked. See, then, below the fruits of a long, rainy bank holiday weekend.BM...
From the mouths of Lords
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The BBC's Radio 4 Today program from this morning is worth hunting down, for those who live the UKEU "brexit" debate. Lord Harries of Pentregarth, a man of the cloth, occupied this morning's 'Thought For The Day' slot. He gave an eloquent reflecti...
EU Commissioner to step down over shady links with honey advocate
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A senior EU official has been forced to step down amid claims he may have been implicated in a honey-for-influence scandal surrounding a pesticide ban. The top Eurocrat is said to have met with a lobbyist who goes under name of Mr Sanders, acting on...
EP RULES, OK. ok?
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The jockeying has begun, and before you know it as many as one in five of us will be voting in the European elections next May. To get ahead of the game, it's worth reminding how the European Parliament selection and election process works, as it can...
HANDS UP, UKIP
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Never seen a group of people so pleased to have a gun pointed at them. Or was this the moment just after an enlightened press adviser said, "er, gentlemen, for the photo perhaps we should all raise our left arms, too..."?BM.
BM, now EU-approved!
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Well that was odd. Today's European Commission midday briefing ended with an extraordinary endorsement from presiding spokémon Olivier Bailly. A propos of absolutely nothing, he appealed to the gathered hacks and the literally several who tu...
Fear of Cyprus bank panic prompts journo panic
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Cyprus has seen a run on bank customers, with journalists queuing round the block at cash machines to interview people calmly going about their private financial affairs. The panic set in amid fears panic would set in, after international lenders fo...
Back to School
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In the 1960 film School for Scoundrels (not the abhorrent 2006 remake), an affable young man, outmanoeuvred in love and life, takes up a course at the School of Lifemanship. It promises to teach him 'how to get ahead without actually cheating,' by ta...
And now for something completely different
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Rehn v K-Thug gets silly. Very silly. It's now gone from cockroaches and zombies, to Monty Python and hamsters. As the EU's euro boss and the New York Times' baiter-in-chief continue to go at it hammer and tongs, they've abandoned references to Keyne...
Cockroaches v Zombies
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The Financial Times blog colourfully depicted the spat as "When Economists Attack". Beardy cleverman Paul Krugman had a pop in his New York Times column at the European Commission's Captain Euro, Olli Rehn. Olli's grasp of the European economy was fo...
Euro-types passed over for mockery hit back
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Puns at the readyEU policymakers overlooked by the writers of this weekend's Brussels Press Revue 'Burlesque-Oni' are lining up to criticise the show. The assortment of sketches included humorous references to commission pomme de terre Jose Manuel...
"Off course I get paid a lot," says EU official. "I gotta work with THESE guys"
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An EU official has defended the pay-and-perks packages for eurocrats, saying the premium rates were justified to compensate for the "shower of sub-simian numpties I have to work with." "My head of unit is a 23 year old whose work experience amounts t...
David has 595 apples...
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EU leaders are to use apples to help gain clarity on budget negotiations this week. Diplomats have shipped in a lorryload of the fruit for the summit, which is supposed to agree the EU's next seven-year spending plan. The sheer scale of the figures a...
THE ***KING SPEECH - trailer
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Here's BM's trailer for the upcoming release of THE ***KING SPEECH, a tale of a leader in the spotlight, under pressure to make the speech of his lifetime, to a nation, nay a continent, a world, gripped, hanging on his every syllable. BM...
How to pronounce Dijsselbloem
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The new president of the group of countries using the euro apparently presents some pronunciation woes for non Dutch speakers. Fear not. BM hasn't spent more than 400 years at the heart of Carolingian northern Europe for nothing. Such...
"I'm, erm, just researching a trademark case..."
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'Add to cart' ... Gut, das ist ze anniversary present sorted... There are very few moments of mirth for those tracking EU jurisprudence. But reading that the EU's trademark office OHIM and the Lux...
Tips for EU interns
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Judging by the heavy air of naivete and optimism at Place Luxembourg last Thursday, and a general pertitude about the place, BM infers that a new batch of interns may have recently arrived in Brussels, joining the juvenile throngs that arrived in Sep...
Democracy in Europe - Illustrated!
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Following a recent post 'Democracy in Europe Explained,' is seems the explanation may not have been quite clear enough, as there are still some who mistakenly defend the 'democratic' legitimacy of Europe's pomme de terres to represent its people (c.f...
Brussels notes 'disappointing' implementation of Single European Swearword
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EU leaders meeting in Brussels this week are considering fresh impetus into cross-Europe deployment of a single European swearword (SES), which has been slow to catch on since its adoption in 2007. In a draft report of the initiative seen by BM ('To...
