100 posts
UKIP’s proposal to cut back public spending – kill prisoners
I do not like my fellow London MEP Gerard Batten very much. Let me explain why. He claims as a UKIP member to be a patriot but does not pay his taxes. Perhaps he would feel more at home in Belize with Michael Ashcroft? In 2008 I exposed that he...
The UK’s first digital election campaign?
The following post is from Simon Benson of our London team There has been much written in the UK media that this will be the first truly digital general election campaign. This is true to an extent, with the numbers of blogs and websites devoting the...
Tories continue uncharacteristic EU charm offensive as leaked report condemns Labour over deficit
We do indeed live in strange times – even more so since this week on two separate occasions (in public) the eurosceptic Conservative party have courted the European Union and voiced their support for it… Their election slogan is "Ready for Change...
Wonderful World
We had a briefing today in the office with members of the Foreign Press Association which brings together the non-UK media based in London. It goes quite well with today’s Charlemagne blog-post about journalists in Brussels (see also today̵...
UK elections: Thousands of Brits give their votes to Afghans, Bangladeshi and Ghanaian
Thousands of British citizens are expected to give their votes in the UK general elections to people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ghana arguing decisions by UK politicians affect the people in those countries. Related posts:Greek elections 2009:...
Cameron and Osborne caught out over “Dwarfgate”
David Cameron and George Osborne’s suitability for government must again be seriously in question after their their latest Sarkozy gaffe. In case you missed the story, Cameron is said to have made a comment about “hidden dwarfs” wh...
The Tories’ Real Record on Women’s Rights
I have been reading with some amazement recent statements on women from senior Tories, in particular David Cameron and Theresa May. In David Cameron’s speech to the Conservative Party spring conference last month, he emphasised how “fam...
Who’s afraid of a hung parliament?
The opinion polls are close and getting closer. An election that the Conservatives ought to have had in the bag, given the unpopularity of the Labour government and the depth of the recession, is now up for grabs. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg...
Tories make nice with Europe, but is it genuine?
When William Hague starts making nice with Europe, you know the Tories are getting very worried about their falling poll numbers. Over the past week the Conservatives have been bending over backward to rebut an increasingly successful line of attack...
Another UKIP MEP in trouble following anti-Ashton rant and childish hissy fit
Less than two weeks after Nigel Farage, the UKIP party leader in the European Parliament, was fined €3,000 for his outburst before Herman van Rompuy, another of his political party members has made a scene, launching a tirade against the EU Represe...
Diane Wallis: Autocrat, tin pot liberal dictator
Here we have another example of the complete lack of any concept of free speech in the European Parliament. In the President's chair for this part of the debate sits Diana Wallis, Lib/Dem MEP for Yorkshire (and how those words mean nothing in any sen...
Tory policies on Europe are not credible and must be challenged
Last week’s Tribune kindly features me as their “star letter”. As it is not on their website here it is…. First, David Cameron changed his mind on spending cuts for crime prevention and then over children’s schools.
Iceland referendum
The people of Iceland have had their say on the Icesave Agreement that their Parliament ratified in December. Their decision to reject it comes as no surprise, given recent polling. But for Iceland much rides on resolving the Icesave issue and settli...
Sunday UK Strategic Defence Review: Chapter 2
OK, so it’s time for another chapter of the Strategic Defence Review as a Blog. Chapter 2 begins as follows: The use of force as an option is becoming more complicated. It is likely to become more difficult to use force in the way in which we h...
The Falklands: the European Union’s Antarctic key
The Falkland Islands have once again become a diplomatic storm-in-a-teacup between Argentina and Britain. But what is the geopolitical significance of the Falkland Islands? And why is it in the European interest that Britain keep hold of them?
Fitna arrives Britain
Fitna (pl. fitan) (فتنة) is an Arabic word with connotations of secession, upheaval and chaos. It is often used to refer to civil war, disagreement and division within Islam and specifically alludes to a time involving trials of faith, similar to...
A tea party for Britain?
If you want a laugh this afternoon, check out this video of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan on Fox News in America talking about his efforts to bring the anti-government “tea party” movement to the UK. The idea that this rag-tag movement of disaffected, g...
Sorry Cameron, but Britain is not “in a complete and utter mess”
OK, the UK has some difficulties due to the financial crisis and is struggling out of recession, but does Cameron really reckon that people think the place is “in a complete and utter mess” as he has termed it in today’s speech that...
Snapshot: The British General Election, May 6, 2010.
Given the imminent outbreak of a general election campaign in the UK, I thought I’d put together a few thoughts on some of the parties contesting the election. That and the fact that UK politics is actually about issues, as opposed to the polit...
Britain 'will' join the Euro says Mandelson
According to reports on AFP, Peter Mandelson told a Pariasian audience today the following,"We already have the eurozone providing a single central bank, currency and monetary policy, which one day I believe Britain will be part of," Mandelson said d...
Farage Acting Out Again
It would be quite remiss of me not to comment on Nigel Farage’s latest attempt to garner publicity in the run-up to the General Election. In a pathetic and offensive attempt to get himself noticed, the co-chair of the European Freedom...
Dear Mr Farage,
you are a free man and thus free to speak. You are a politician and thus understandably willing to gain political points in your electorate, especially before parliamentary elections in the UK. But it is disgraceful that you are not able to make a p...
London
London En reportage pour la London Fashion Week, le rythme a été si éprouvant que votre droïde favori s'est transormé en vampire : je n’ai savouré la capitale britannique que de nuit...
Sunday UK Strategic Defence Review Blogging: Chapter 1
So, here goes with the first in my series of posts on the UK’s strategic defence review as a blog. Here are what the MoD thinks are the major forces that will determine the political environment: The National Security Strategy sets out the key...
Expenses speculation – time to hit MEPs?
Mark Reckons has done an excellent bit of work looking at the likelihood of UK MPs milking their expenses correlating that with how safe their seats are. Meanwhile New Europe has raised the question of if and when the scrutiny of expenses is going to...
Ignorance is not bliss for Chris Bryant
The controversial EU-US anti-terrorism data-sharing deal, named the Swift agreement, came under further attack yesterday as an almighty row broke out in the Commons. Labour’s very own Michael Connarty accused the government of treating Parliament w...
Inside UKBA
Someone at the UK Border Agency has blown the whistle on what appears to be a culture of cruelty and casual racism. The home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz, has called for an investigation following allegations that officials at one of...
UK, green light to nine new offshore wind farms
Nine new offshore wind farms are to be built in the UK, further to the Government's green light on January 8. The new plants will help the UK get closer to meet Europe's renewable energy targets by multiplying by four the wind power capacity in the C...
Growing demand for carbon labels in UK
72% of UK consumers want carbon labels on food products, as this would help them to think 'green', reveals a by Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University. A total of 432 shoppers across all of the UK's major supermarkets were questioned on th...
How much does it cost a country to buy some influence in Brussels?
It’s one of Tony Blair’s best known phrases, a promise to put Britain at the heart of Europe. Leaving the big issues (Euro, Iraq) to one side, any relationship with the European Union needs people to make the relationship work, and that&#...
Libel Capital London
Sassafras linked last night to a site with a petition.I know, another petition... Yes, another...
Will European bonds translate into Eurobonds?
There are, we are told, no plans to bail out Greece, which has come under a lot of pressure and scrutiny for its government debt. However there seems to be a general feeling that if it came to it, Greece would be bailed out: see the Irish Times and A...
Tony Blair the scapegoat
The UK has been in frenetic anticipation this week of Tony Blair’s testimony Friday in front of the Iraq War show trial, er I mean, inquiry. The British media has been baying for a dramatic crescendo to the three week grilling of former cabinet off...
India and the UK
I had a quality meeting yesterday with the Indian External Affairs Minister, Mr Krishna. I am delighted that he could attend the London conference and we had a useful discussion about the situation in Afghanistan, where India will continue to play an...
Perpetual Peace Process
Northern Ireland is back in the news, and this time it's not because of sex and money. The more familiar peace process crisis has returned (though, technically, it never really went away), with the devolution of police and justice powers to the regio...
Yemen Meeting
I chaired a meeting today in London on Yemen. The meeting focussed on a comprehensive approach to the root causes – political, social, economic – of Yemen’s problems.I was pleased that Ministers of 21 countries and 5 international institu...
London’s Cultural Industries set to benefit from the Spanish Presidency
Addressing the Culture and Education Committee yesterday, Spanish Culture Minister Mrs. Gonzales-Sinde gave priority to the consolidation of culture as a factor for economic growth and social cohesion. As a London MEP I was obviously interest...
Is it worth voting?
Interesting piece here from British Labour MP Tom Harris about why people don’t bother to vote. I have to admit that the last local and European elections were the first time I seriously considered not voting, because I just don’t see the...
Instant Police State. Just add water.
From the British Civil Contingencies Act 2004. You can see it here. With the stroke of a pen, a British government can do the following. I particularly like the “other specified activities” whatever that means. Reading The Guardian? ...
Why does the government employ lawyers?
The Chilcot inquiry’s encounter with Jack Straw is turning up yet more gems. Jack Straw was foreign secretary at the time of the invasion of Iraq and the inquiry into British government decision-making has revealed this comment from him in respons...
“Robowars”: upcoming BBC radio documentary
From the BBC Press Office: A new two-part series for BBC Radio 4, presented by Stephen Sackur, considers a crucial, but often hidden, revolution in the way in which wars are fought. Ever-more autonomous robotic machines are becoming steadily more po...
Abuses in Spain
Recently there have been more problems for British property owners in Spain who have been served demolition notices on the houses they own, as reported here. The latest incident involves demolition notices being served on with properties in a small v...
UK: The seasonally adjusted Index of Services in November 2009 fell by 2.3% compared with November 2008.
The Office for National statistics of the UK released today the Index of Services November 2009.AnalysisMost recent month on a year earlierIndex of ServicesThe seasonally adjusted Index of Services in November 2009 fell by 2.3 per cent compared with...
UK out of recession in Q4 2009 but just barely (+0.1%)
According to preliminary data released by the UK's Office for National Statistics today:The chained volume measure of gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009.The increase in output was due mainly to increases...
Foreign Office Ministers and legislation
Foreign Office Ministers don't normally have much legislation to take through Parliament, apart from addressing the European Scrutiny Committees on developments in the EU. But we do have two pieces at the moment: the Cluster Munitions Bill, which wil...
Tax Credits more effective than Married Couples’ Tax Allowance
Yesterday’s Financial Times carries an interesting of piece of research showing that Conservative proposals to introduce a married couples’ tax allowance would do little to achieve the party’s claimed goal of reducing child poverty. T...
UKIP's increase seems to be stable
Interesting poll by Angus Reid/Political BettingIn the tables we have question 10If a General Election were held tomorrow, which one of the following parties would you be most likely to support in your constituency?Which has UKIP polling 5% nationall...
The Tories do it again and again
Commissioner-Designate Reding, whose proposed portfolio is civil liberties, justice and home affairs, has just given an impressive performance at her Hearing. I made a point of being there as her brief also includes women’s rights. Althoug...
UK's Stop and Search Violates ECHR
Just a very short notification to report that the Court decided today that the United Kingdom's stop and search powers for the police are too wide and that no adequate safeguards against abuse exist. The Terrorism Act 2000 permits any uniformed polic...
Britain in Europe: What next?
The UK general election is expected to be held on 6 May 2010. Despite a recent shift in the polls, it still remains likely that David Cameron will become the next Prime Minister. What can we expect from UK's behaviour in the EU under a Cameron govern...
Same old Cameron, same old Tories
As I returned to Brussels with the worst of the snow seemingly clearing, the 11.04 Eurostar was, somewhat remarkably, on time leaving though slightly late arriving in Brussels. It was, however, crowded; I suppose only to be expected in the circums...
Gordon Brown w*****
From today's Metrotime, which makes a lot more sense if you don't speak Dutch:Plus an exclusive bonus for Berlaymonster readers:...
Brown: back him or sack him, but definitely do not dither
OK, here we go again. I’ve lost track of the number of times that there have been weak and weedy attempts to ditch Gordon Brown over the last 9 months or so. This time things are perhaps a little bit different – the Hoon-Hewit...
UK Politics Just Got More Interesting
Image via Wikipedia People often wonder why I show interest in UK Politics. I find it really interesting and absorbing. The following letter from two fromer Ministers really sums up why I find it more interesting! Dear Colleague, As we move toward...
Denouncing the EU Lisbon Treaty ─ UK Tories and the long grass
In the blog post Gerald Warner and the Song of Songs of unsophistication (20 October 2009), I rejected Warner’s Telegraph column view that Britain could revoke the Lisbon Treaty and return to the ‘status quo ante’ after the amending treaty has...
Akmal Shaikh
I oppose capital punishment in all circumstances. Along with every EU country it is banned in Britain. But not every country agrees. That's their prerogative. But Ivan Lewis spoke well today when he talked about the particular...
The Disarming Mr Blix
Ahead of the UK’s Iraq Inquiry, ex Chief Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix spoke in Brussels at an event organised by the European Policy Centre and presented his thoughts on the Iraq war and nuclear disarmament. He said that the early ’90R...
The Tories and Europe
There have always been two factions in the British Conservative party when it comes to Europe. The pro-Europeans see engaging with Europe as part of the nations trading legacy and see the value of being part of a group of democratic states. The Euro...
“Christian Zionism” comes to Britain
One of the most generally accepted political “truths” here in the UK, is that there is a big difference between how we and people in the USA look at the Israel-Palestine issue. Whilst there are individual politicians here obviously do hav...
German-British Rapprochement Would Mean Dark Days For Europe
It is a fact long lamented by those two endangered species, British Germanophiles and German Anglophiles: apart from a few pockets of intense co-operation, such as in justice and home affairs, the potential of a German-British partnership has seldom...
Tories from a German perspective
Fascinating, if a little scary viewpoint from Germany about national soveriegnty and the Tory Party.German government advisors are insisting on concerted efforts to politically neutralize British EU-skeptics. As explained in a recent paper published...
The UK, the country that uses its brightest minds to solve problems other developed nations don’t even have
The upgrade of the West Coast Main Line cost between £8 and £10 billion and trains have a maximum speed of 200km/h, and it’s a fiendishly complex mixed traffic railway. France’s LGV Est cost €4 billion and the service speed is 320km/h...
Welcome civil partnerships ruling
UK equalities legislation is fairly complex and patchy, with different groups having varying levels of...
Sliding off the scale
UK now 7th largest economy, and soon to be smaller than Canada and Australia says the Centre of Economic and Business Research.Does his matter, well yes it does if it means that our competitiveness is the reason for this slide.The people one the brid...
Avoiding the issue
Within the next year, the UK Government (whoever it will be) will find itself in crucial negotiations over the next EU 'financial framework', which will decide who pays what into the EU budget over the period 2014 to 2020.You will remember that Tony...
It's going to get a whole lot worse
In a speech yesterday David Cameron cited Open Europe's recent report which showed that the UK has spent more than £35 billion complying with EU employment, health and safety law in the last decade.What he didn't mention, is the report's even more i...
Britain & the EU Presidency: Idealism versus Effectiveness
David Miliband is out, but Tony Blair is still in with a shout. Those whom shriek with horror at the thought of a Blair presidency, but also want a stronger more coherent EU might want to consider the potential contradictions in their respective posi...
Cameron’s referendum travails make him look an idiot
David Cameron, as quoted on the BBC News website today: It looks like this treaty is no longer going to be a treaty, it looks like it is going to become part of European law and that is going to create a new situation. Does David Cameron si...
David Cameron sits on the Horns of a Dilemma
The time has now arrived for David Cameron to come up with a new Conservative European policy. Since Czech President Vaclav Klaus has ended all speculation and signed the Lisbon Treaty, the Tories no longer have even the slightest amount of wriggle...
Pot... kettle
The Prime Minister has delivered a statement to the House of Commons regarding last week's European Council meeting, with more than a few questions directed towards him regarding the hoo-ha surrounding Tony Blair's candidacy to be the EU's first perm...
BNP on Question Time: what would have been the point of banning Griffin?
If, like me, you watched Thursday’s audience-record-breaking edition of Question Time, you’ll more than like have been as revolted by the odious chubby fascist’s performance as I was. Griffin spluttered implausible denials of his vi...
Goose Chase: The New Immigration Rules in the UK
On the 19th of September 2009, a 19 year old Canadian woman was forced to fly back home as she was threatened to be deported from the United Kingdom. Rochelle Wallis, who had recently married a British man she had known for over two years, was separa...
Why the BNP should be kept off the air
This Thursday, the BNP will appear on primetime TV, debating with mainstream politicians. Reasons abound as to why the BBC made a great error in extending this invitation. - Editorial / United Kingdom , Domestic politics, Culture, sport, educati...
UK watchdog slams farm payments mess
In one of its most critical ever reports, the National Audit Office has slammed the way in which the Rural Payments Agency has administered Single Farm Payments to farmers. It accused the agency of showing ’scant regard to protecting public mon...
Watchdog slams farm payments mess
In one of its most critical ever reports, the National Audit Office has slammed the way in which the Rural Payments Agency has administered Single Farm Payments to farmers. It accused the agency of showing 'scant regard to protecting public money'.T...
The Sun Sets On Brown, But Rises On Blair
Ring Out The Old, Ring In the New Harold Wilson once said that “A week is a long time in politics” and time seemed to drag for the Labour party at their annual conference. Privately, labourites are talking about the imminent election in a...
The third way
The blog is likely to go quiet for a few days as we head up to Manchester for the Conservative Party Conference. Should be an interesting few days, especially with our fringe event on what the Tories should do about Europe scheduled for Wednesday.Fo...
U.K.: Labour's New Media Strategy
Mark Hanson is a consultant to the British Labour Party on their web strategy, and we're pleased to have his perspective on what that party is doing on the new media front. -- the editors Whilst here in the UK we are used to playing catch-up with our...
The missed Opportunities of the Labour Party Conference
I have just returned from the British Labour Party’s annual conference. It was a sobering affair. Gordon Brown and his ministers are trying to start a ‘fight back’ against the Conservatives who, at the start of the week, held a commanding lead...
UK Jobseekers allowance 10% average earnings
From a TUC press release People on average salaries receive just a tenth of their...
Quilliam versus the BNP
The Quilliam Foundation has released a report titled ‘In Defence of British Muslims: A Response to BNP racist propaganda‘. The paper aims to ‘highlight the weak nature of the arguments behind the BNP’s anti-Muslim campaign’.
On an English Parliament
My last post has been hijacked by the rather fervent supporters of the concept of an English Parliament to the extent that it’s impossible to discuss what it was really about – i.e. local/regional vs national identities. For non-Brits, a...
Media values (pt. 2)
Last week’s flurry of media outpourings on Daniel Hannan’s comments on the NHS were interesting for several reasons. Firstly, my best friend went to university with him and we both derive much pleasure from watching his (Hannan’...
UK Enraged by US Healthcare Portrayal
The US healthcare debate came to the UK in a very personal way yesterday, when video of a British politician slagging off the NHS spread across the internets like wildfire. It was the twitterati who first started spreading the word, creating tags lik...
Not just Hannan: Tory links with NHS-bashers
Posh boy “progressive” David Cameron has acted swiftly to distance himself from the anti- NHS views of Tory MEP Daniel Hannan, poster boy of the hysterical Republican anti-Obama and anti-health reform loonies. Unfortunately for Came...
UK Enraged by US Healthcare Portrayal
The US healthcare debate came to the UK in a very explosive way yesterday, when video of a British politician slagging off the NHS spread across the internets like wildfire. It was the twitterati who first started spreading the word, creating tags li...
South West MEP Defends NHS against Tory Attacks
Liberal Democrat MEP Graham Watson has joined the growing number of voices defending Britain's National Health Service against comments made by a Conservative MEP on a US tour.
The NHS under attack
There’s a big row going on about President Obama’s proposed healthcare reforms in the US at the moment. It’s US politics, so holds little interest for me. But then the Republicans – taking hyperbole and wilful disinformation t...
Complicity with torture
The ongoing difficulty the British political establishment is having with allegations of torture reveals some important truths about the world. In essence, the situation seems to be that, while British agents have not actively engaged in torture the...
Eurosceptic MPs deny they had snouts in trough
Eurosceptic Conservative MPs have argued that there is nothing inconsistent in receiving payments from the CAP whilst being critical of it - which is indeed the case. The three MPs were the subject of an investigation screened by More4.Former Conser...
The Lucky Country?
Paul Krugman has a soft spot for Gordon Brown. Basically he thinks that Gordon Brown should get more credit for managing the economic crisis. But the moment that becomes being mystified at Gordon’s lack of electoral bounce, it gets rather puz...
In the postmodern putsch you have to move the victim somewhere – so where for Brown?
If you don’t like a politician what do you do with him or her? International organisations are always an option. Could this work for Labour and Gordon Brown? Let me explain. Brussels is full of national politicians who no longer had a...
Don't go Gordon, all is forgiven!
An interesting piece in the Times this morning from William Rees-Mogg reminds us that Justice Secretary Jack Straw is to introduce an amendment which allows life peers to resign from the House of Lords (it was also reported in the FT a few weeks ago)...
Tony Blair and New Labour did a lot of good. Fact.
It has become very fashionable of late to completely dismiss Tony Blair and New Labour as having made no positive contributions to modern British society whatsoever. This is a load of balls. From devolution, to economic management (Including Bank of...
Only a new duet of parliament and people can bring the change we need | Timothy Garton Ash
Britain can reach its own constitutional moment by creating bodies to give direction and authority to its fizzing civic energyUnless I've missed something, Britain has not just emerged from a war, revolution or declaration of independence. Such are t...
The fate of declining communities
Jonathan Guthrie writes in the Financial Times about the problems faced by towns and cities once the economic reason for their prosperity goes into decline. Cities in the north of England, for example, once were ideal locations for heavy manufacturi...
