100 posts
Farage in Le Ring
Helen Szamuely has either translated or had translated this interview from French web magazine, the Ring. He talks about the fine, Lisbon, Burkas and the historical tradition of Britain in Europe.
Serious Problems Emerge For The F-UK-De Group Of Countries
Well, I for one can’t help thinking that it’s now well time we all stopped getting carried away with the use of so many acronyms. Not only may one man’s meat easily prove to be another’s poison, it may even be that for some th...
Zionism, anti-semitism, ex-public schoolboys and the left
Anti-semitic attacks in Britain in 2009 reached their highest level since they were first recorded in 1984. Reported and verified attacks (physical, verbal abuse, bullying of schoolchildren, desecration of graves, etc) on Jewish people, properti...
If you want to be a Eurocrat you have to be an arch-federalist – FT just uses the same old broken frames
It’s good to see that the story that the UK government is cutting funding for the College of Europe is starting to be seen more widely – today’s FT has a story entitled “Funding cut for places at Eurocrat college&#...
On the Road to Fair Votes
Last year at Labour Party Conference, when Gordon Brown promised a referendum on changing the voting system, specifically holding a referendum on the Alternative Vote system (AV), I was absolutely delighted. Today the Guardian provided this very...
We have been at our best when at our boldest – so AV?
Two striking phrases appear in Tony Blair’s 2002 Labour Conference speech – the famous “We have been at our best when at our boldest” and a lesser known line “Thanks to the brilliance and vision of Gordon Bro...
No red carpet for pope in Britain
Back in September I wrote about my surprise when, during a visit to Prague, I was prevented from entering Prague Castle because the pope was paying a visit. I wasn't surprised that they weren't letting visitors in during the papal visit, that stands...
I’m a voter in the Leyton & Wanstead selection – make a case, but don’t spam me
A UK general election is on the horizon and my name is on the electoral register in the Leyton & Wanstead constituency in East London. As I’m a Labour Party member resident there for more than 2 years it means I have a vote in the selection...
Tony Blair says something that’s true!
Well what did his critics expect? An admission that he’d got Iraq terribly wrong? Blair breaking down in tears and begging forgiveness from Rose Gentle? A confession that he’d personally sexed up the dodgy dossier and/or grabbed Lord Gol...
Strenghtening the International System
The need to strengthen the international system is clear. I 'm pleased that the World Economic Forum is discussing these issues at Davos. The FCO sponsored paper by the Brookings Institution on Risk and Resilience in the International System is an im...
Brent Central Labour Party’s Fundraiser
Yesterday evening I had an excellent meal at the Bombay Dreams restaurant/nightclub in Wembley. I thoroughly recommend Bombay Dreams – it’s the place to go if you are ever in the area. The occasion was a fundraiser for Brent Central...
Books you should read: A View from the Foothills.
A well-written glimpse behind the ministerial door. I’m only a third the way through it, but I can already recommend Chris Mullin’s “A View from the Foothills” as well worth reading. Mullin, a British Labour MP, former mini...
Cameron further weakens Tory influence in Europe
As predicted, the Tories are starting to feel the full consequences of David Cameron’s withdrawal from the mainstream centre-right group in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP). Though I thought the days of r...
Britain exiting the EU: Norman Tebbit proposes divorce
Norman Tebbit, a former chairman of the UK Conservative Party, has recently written two Telegraph columns where he sees the underlying history and culture which have formed the institutions of the other EU members as deeply different and hostile to B...
Jack Straw at the Chilcot enquiry: a blunt instrument
Jack Straw’s evidence at the Chilcot enquiry into the Iraq war yesterday, and the discussion that it led to of deadlines and resolutions, tells an interesting and important story about the conduct of international relations and the problems that it...
Godfrey Bloom is at it again
Now that the Commissioner-Designate Hearings are over, we can look back on the choicest moments. Not that there are very many as MEPs, on the whole, take their duties at these Hearings very seriously. None more so perhaps than the appalling Godfrey...
Cameron: My butler is committed to using the NHS.
Conservative Party leader David Cameron MP has stressed the Tory party committment to the NHS by stressing that his butler would use nothing else. ” Whether Jennings has his hand severed operating a spinning jenny, or loses a eye reloading a bl...
Defra's joined-up thinking recognises the fragility of UK food production
The government's 20-year food and farming strategy fully integrates policy for the first time since the second world war. We can't carry on just as we are," the prime minister says of the UK food system in his introduction to the government's new 20-...
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...
Conservatives and UKIP absent from Budget Commissioner hearings at European Parliament
The Committees of the European Parliament commenced hearings on the appointment of the new members of the European Commission today. One of the first, which is ongoing right now, is the Budget Committee's hearing on Janusz Lewandowski, the nominated...
Labour isn’t working: it’s plotting
Patricia Hewit and Geoff Hoon should be added to those on the list accused of contributing to apathy towards politics and disillusionment with the political class. Labour needs to get back to the business of government and steady itself for a long an...
Time for some fucking TRUTH…
From the Fat Man… In June of last year a young Frenchwoman jumped off the sixth floor balcony of her sister’s flat in London holding her five-month-old baby in her arms. Both were killed. A tragedy, but one with a reason. Let Jenni Russel...
Morning Star/Daily Worker: 80 years of lies
The Morning Star today publishes its 80th Anniversary edition. Strictly speaking, the Star isn’t 80, as it came into existence in 1966, but we can forgive that very minor sleight of hand: the 1966 launch of the Star was in reality no more than...
A Lasting Impression from the Man who would be European King?
Just two years after his departure from Downing Street comes this early attempt to assess Tony Blair’s legacy as British prime minister. And it arrives at a time when Blair was being considered for the new role of President of the European Council...
Charlemagne fixing Europe?
I started reading the promising blog post on Charlemagne’s notebook, Europe realises that Lisbon does not fix Europe (5 January 2010), with a degree of anticipation. Noteworthy continental journalists had lamented the complexity of the Lisbon Treat...
Britain in 2010: A better year for Europe?
Yesterday’s Grahnlaw blog post dealt with Charles Grant’s view through the CER’s rose-tinted spectacles at the UK Conservatives’ aims in Europe: Britain: A constructive EU curmudgeon? (5 January 2010). This British “best case scenario” e...
Britain: A constructive EU curmudgeon?
In the Grahnlaw blog posts Denouncing the EU Lisbon Treaty – UK Tories and the long grass (1 January 2010) and British and Irish opt-outs from EU JHA law (3 January 2010) we turned to one of the recurring themes of this blog: the (future) relations...
No to either group of fascists marching on Wootton Bassett
Cross-posted from Truth, Reason & Liberty: In opposition to Islamists and nationalists marching on Wootton Bassett tags: Afghanistan, Anjem Choudary, anti-war, EDL, Iraq, Islam4UK, nationalism, religious bigotry, Truth Reason & Liberty, Woot...
British and Irish opt-outs from EU JHA law
Nowhere is the semi-detached nature of the house of the European Union more clearly to be seen than in the field of opt-outs, leaving some member states outside important policy areas. Few of these arrangements are more tangled than in the area of fr...
Ten Years On: Britain Without the EU
I got an early Christmas present from the TaxPayers' Alliance last month. Here's my review.Score: +1 (1 vote cast)...
Ten Years On: Britain Without the EU
I got an early Christmas present from the TaxPayers' Alliance last month. Here's my review.Score: +1 (1 vote cast)...
Does HMRC really need to send me 13 copies of the same letter, all delayed in the Christmas post?
I’m in the middle of finalising all of the business arrangements for techPolitics LLP, the new company for my website work. One aspect of that is VAT registration, and my accountants need an authorisation code from HM Revenue and Customs. Rathe...
Catherine Ashton and the British problem
A High Representative who may not represent her home country...
An open letter to David Cameron
Dear Mr Cameron, At the start of the Copenhagen process on global climate change, you reassured us that the Conservative party is serious about curbing man-made global warming.You tell us that your "front bench" view on climate change is the view tha...
Lib Dems urge government to drop visa rule changes that could decimate Bournemouth language school businesses
Bournemouth Lib Dems have urged the government to bin a planned crackdown on student and graduate visa systems which threatens the town's thriving language schools and could cost the local economy £200 million a year.
Against Britain’s extreme libel laws
Simon Singh has spent the last year and a half of his life fighting a libel writ from the British Chiropractic Association. They want to silence him after he published an article about the problems with chiropractic therapy. This is not an isolated...
The Bedside Guardian | Book review
This year's roundup of reporting and comment from the GuardianUnlike Shami Chakrabarti – who describes in her foreword the Guardian's near-gospel status in her childhood home – I grew up in a household dominated by the Daily Mail, blithely unawar...
Nicolas Sarkozy, one. British press corps, nil.
Gordon Brown outshone...
Fractured alliance
Tim Bale's brief on the Parliamentary Affairs website trails some of the arguments and analysis about the new European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament that Tim, Aleks Szczerbiak and I have been working on.
Good news and a further call from Labourstart
Eric Lee of Labourstart writes: I love getting an email like this on a Monday morning. “I am writing to thank you, your organisation and supporters for the solidarity and support displayed in the recent Carlisle Cleaners dispute in London,R...
Lying with numbers: the new UK tax on bonuses
Bankers and their flunkies are lying with abandon in an attempt to crank up the...
Cameron’s Challenge: Offer Something Positive for Europe
Seen from continental Europe, one of the biggest questions of 2010 concerns David Cameron, leader of the UK’s opposition Conservative party. The Tories are widely expected to win the forthcoming British election, but few European Union p...
Dave on the Ba’thist / al-Qa’eda bombings
Dave on these fascistic bombings. I can’t add to his analysis, but despair that the so-called ‘Workers Power’ and the SWP and much of the “left” (including Jeremy Corbyn MP) appear to support the Islamo-fascists. These i...
Update on the Petition to keep the Met Police Specialist Trafficking Unit
You will know from previous blogs that I presented a petition on 26 November to the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) Board to try and stop the Metropolitan Police closing their special dedicated human trafficking unit. The meeting was broad...
Diana looks at the possibility of bringing the study of proton decay to North Yorkshire
On Monday Diana visited the potash Mine in Boulby, North Yorkshire to meet with participants of the proposed project for the design of a pan-European Infrastructure for Large Apparatus studying Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics (LAGUNA). Th...
The legitimacy of Lisbon
In a debate at University College London yesterday, the argument came forth from the anti-European speakers that the Lisbon treaty was illegitimate in a way that was not true of previous European treaties. It is hard to work out exactly what they me...
Osborne: City more important than Sovereignty
In an interview with the FT, The Tory's shadow Chancellor, George Osborne, has stated that...
The Tories cannot overcome their problems with Europe
You will remember that on Friday I posted a report on the Tripartite Lords, Commons and European Parliament meeting held the day before. I deliberately didn’t mention any of the names of those present, but nevertheless tried to give a rounded...
Thatcher: the political case for EC membership
Margaret Thatcher, speaking in the British House of Commons on 8 April 1975, during the referendum debate on EC membership: “First, the case for being in the Common Market. I believe, with a number of hon. Members who spoke yesterday, that the...
Scotland ‘on message’ on farm subsidies
Scotland is far more in tune with current thinking on farm subsidies in mainland Europe than England and Wales, claims Scotland’s rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead. Addressing farmers at a Christmas Carcass competition in Inverurie, Mr Lo...
Scotland 'on message' on farm subsidies
Scotland is far more in tune with current thinking on farm subsidies in mainland Europe than England and Wales, claims Scotland's rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead.Addressing farmers at a Christmas Carcass competition in Inverurie, Mr Lochhead...
Was he already employing a press officer? Because he doesn't seem to be now
Bercow's literary talenst.According to PA, John Bercow is disclaiming his authorship of the Tories guide to shagging. Now he says it was a satire on his piss poor attempts to pull."This article was not written by me but about me, mocking the fact tha...
UK’s Labour Government to Push for a Windfall Tax on Banks
The BBC’s Business Editor Robert Peston has announced on his blog that the UK Treasury plans a windfall tax on banks, most likely to be announced next Wednesday in the Pre-Budget Report. Even though the details are not decided yet the reasoning...
A nice donation from a nasty old man
From Matthew Thompson: Just received this as part of a weekly email from the National Secular Society: “We received a small — but unusual — donation at the NSS this week. It was inside a card that announced on the front: “The Micha...
David Cameron to speak at Gingerbread AGM
David Cameron is billed to speak at the AGM of Gingerbread, single parents, equal families, on Monday. I would imagine the meeting, to be chaired by “Guardian” columnist Madeleine Bunting, will prove lively, to put it mildly. I am espec...
What’s the politics equivalent of CofE?
When the census was published in 2001, the big story was the religion box and the internet rumours about how if enough people put Jedi as their religion it had to be “officially recognised”. Absolute rubbish of course, but nevertheless 39...
Saying it like it is
Yesterday saw the last debate on European Affairs in the House of Commons before the next General Election, and by the look of it it was, as usual, very poorly attended and only by the usual suspects - many of whom happen to be extremely well-informe...
The Barnier furore
You could be forgiven for thinking that Michel Barnier will single-handedly be able to bring the City of London to its knees and sink Britain’s economy while he’s at it. That he will be able to propose and then get legislation on to the member st...
Walthamstow Labour Party’s successful fundraiser
I was delighted to go to a fundraiser organised by Walthamstow Labour Party last night. Leading lights Walthamstow MP, Neil Gerrard, and the PPC Stella Creasy (pictured) were just two of the star attractions. The other two celebrities presen...
Towards a Reformed Conservatism? I don’t think so.
The big political event in Britain over the last week was the launch of Phillip Blonds’ new Tory think tank ResPublica. I’ve known Phillip for a few years – since he was a humble academic in far flung Cumbria – and have watched him move at in...
A well-intentioned, but stupid protest by the STUC
Wise words upon what must rank as one of the stupidest and most ill-conceived “protests” in living memory (though I’m prepared to believe that it’s not part of the organised anti-semitic movement for a total boycott of Israe...
Sick of “EU doesn’t sign off books, therefore corrupt/evil/useless/nasty” (delete as applicable)
Ho, ho, here we go again. A question posed in the House of Commons by Philip Davies (Con) as cited by the Open Europe blog: Given that the accounts of the EU have not been signed off by the auditors for 15 years running, why do the Government ke...
British press in petulant Frenchman controls the city shocker
The French President can behave like a petulant teenager, yet the British press (and the British Bankers’ Association) seem to not understand that the best thing to do with a petulant teenager is to ignore it. The Times led today with the...
FT video: The Tories and Europe
Watch this video by Quentin Peel, the FT’s international affairs editor, on the Tories and Europe function doLoad() {var mp = new MavenPlayer('mp_blogs');mp.setParameter('checkSystemId', 'systemRequirementsHTML'); mp.setQueryParamsAsVariable...
Surprise surprise
Now that the Lisbon Treaty is safely in force (as of yesterday) the Lib Dems have predictably abandoned their support for a referendum on Britain's EU membership.The tactic to support such a referendum was nothing more than a pathetically transparent...
A vote on Scottish independence?
A settlement of Scotland’s long-running constitutional debate came a step closer yesterday with the publication of a White Paper outlining a road to independence. Four different scenarios are set out for the future relationship between Scotland an...
St George’s Ward, Islington North
St George’s Ward in Islington North have selected a three high-powered candidates for the London Borough elections in May, Jessica Asato, Acting Director of Progress, Alex Smith who runs Labour List and Gary Heather of the CWU. They don̵...
Oh, bollocks: it’s revolutionary defeatism as between Rees and Smith
We here at ‘Shiraz’ really don’t want to intrude into private grief, especially when so many thin-skinned comrades like Johnny Game-boy and Dickie “intellekshull” Seymour might get upset (and they’re upset so easi...
The Politics Show London
I was pleased to appear on the London regional part of The Politics Show earlier today talking about the petition calling on the Metropolitan Police to keep open their unit dedicated to combatting human trafficking. My thanks to The Politics Show...
Appearance on Ken Livingstone’s Programme on LBC
Just to say I am due to be interviewed by Ken Livingstone on his programme on LBC this morning. Ken will talk to me about the petition calling for the Metropolitan Police to keep their specialist unit dedicated to combatting human trafficking wh...
UKIP’s new leader, Lord Pearson
UKIP, love them or hate them, have been fairly consistent in one thing over the years – arguing against the EU because it is run by unelected bureaucrats. Just one of their arguments, perhaps – but the democratic deficit claim (though cer...
Launch of the 23kg Aircraft Baggage Weight Campaign
A campaign for the maximum weight for items of aircraft baggage to be 23 kilogrammes is launched today be aviation trade unions. I recently met with members of the trade union Heathrow Liaison Committee (HLC) and other trade unionists from th...
New Commission posts
The Commission has just published the new list of EU Commissioners and their responsibilities for the next five years. It looks like the paper obtained by Jean Quatremer which we reported on yesterday got it quite wrong.Here's our initial reaction:1)...
Correspondence about Worker’s Rights
Letter to the Department for Work and Pensions about the portability of disbaility allowances 2009 Letter to the UK government about [...]...
‘Extremism’ in schools – why the Tories backed off
Yesterday the Tories were making a lot of noise about the alleged influence of the extreme Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahir in two independent Islamic schools, and the alleged ‘fact’ that the schools had received £113,000 between them in...
The Manufacture Of Outrage
The self-appointed guardians of speaking truth to power have hosted a long piece by reporter Jonathan Cook, who compares the recent Medialens book with journalist Nick Davies’s Flat Earth News. Naturally (it would not have been published on t...
The Petition calling on the Metropolitan Police to keep the specialist Trafficking Unit open is presented at City Hall
1,804 signatures later and a lot of hard work by Sarah and Holly from Journalista as well as my office staff, I handed in today the petition calling on the Metropolitan Police to keep their specialist unit dedicated to combatting human trafficking...
'Nasty' Tories would choke off climate change aid
David Cameron's Tory MEPs have launched a last minute attempt to scupper the EU's Copenhagen position of arguing for climate change aid for developing countries.
Ideas for Freedom winter school
Although this is not an AWL blog, it’s no secret that I’m a member and Volty is a sympathiser. We’ll be at Birbeck College, London, this weekend (28-29 November) for the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty’s Ideas for Freedom win...
"Near where the chartered Thames does flow"...
stands the Speaker's House. From within we hear the untuous sub-Sinden tones of the Speaker himself.And boy does he want evereything to be centralling controlled.Next up applications to stand for political parties. According to the Independent,"Polit...
Should the Commons sit through the summer
Just a thought on the Guardian's reporting of the Tory proposal to have the House of Commons sitting through August next year. A proposal welcomed by Con Home amongst others.If these could be described as the 'Re-Peal Sessions' then yes there is valu...
Tories attack Catherine Ashton
Yesterday morning I was accosted by Conservative MEP Charles Tannock (on the left in the picture) and harangued about the perils, as he perceived it, of Cathy Ashton being the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. He has now expanded his vie...
European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 25 November
A Daily Review Of International Online Media Europeans on this date in history:1911 Birth of...
EU flood aid money for Cumbria (let’s avoid the errors from last time)
In June and July 2007 parts of the UK were hit be severe floods. The EU has a Solidarity Fund to help its Member States deal with natural disasters, yet in the months after the floods wrangling continued about whether the UK would get any money from...
BBC on ECR Group leader Michal Kaminski ─ Britain in EU
In Britain, the decision of the Conservative Party to leave the mainstream group of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the European Parliament in order to set up the anti-integrationist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group continues...
