EU Referendum do a number on a judgement by the European Court of Justice which sets a precedent for thousands of other couples residing in Ireland and, more widely [and] better defines the rights of EU states to manage their own immigration policies. Under the EU directive on free movement of […]
Martin Kettle in the Guardian on Labour’s horrible byelection loss in Glasgow yesterday: Almost no Labour MP, including Brown, is now safe. Glasgow East was Labour’s 25th safest seat in the UK and its third safest in Scotland. The seat had been Labour since the 1920s. If the 22.5% swing […]
Round at the Bruges Group last night to hear a thought-provoking Very Big Picture talk. The argument went like this: not too long ago when Communism ended in Europe there were books about the triumph of democracy, the ‘end of history’ and so on now the emphasis is on Islamic […]
As a chess fan I decided to use my time in Moscow to get to know some of the world’s top players. This was at the time when the world of chess was in turmoil because of Garry Kasparov’s ambitions to make the game more accessible – and more lucrative. […]
In a neat example of government ‘spin’ in action, David Miliband’s speech today about Europe is being trailed in this morning’s Guardian. Once upon a time it was a good enough result to get the speech reported after it had happened. That being unreliable, Labour have taken to a high art […]
One of the most piquant features of the British Parliamentary voting system is that it is so well established and so well analysed that pundits can predict with a high degree of accuracy which MPs will lose their seats for any given % swing of opinion against the government at […]
Back from Brussels, hearing lots of theories about whether the Lisbon Treaty is dead, alive or in some sort of suspended animation. The core options appear to be these: brutalise/bribe the Irish into submitting mainly via various ‘Declarations’ aimed at meeting most of their identifiable concerns, allowing a further and […]
Should one support one’s own country at international sporting fixtures? If so, why? Take the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where Bosnian Muslims (Bosniacs) and Bosnian Croats have been busy rioting again following the defeat of Croatia by Turkey in the Euro 2008 football match. The Bosniacs supported Turkey, the […]
Battle is being joined on what happens next with the Lisbon Treaty following the irish No. The Irish are saying that there can be no quick solutions. The French and Germans are calling for everyone other than the Irish to ratify. The Czechs are saying that the Treaty is dead. […]
Let’s look a bit more closely at Will Hutton’s arguments on the EU Treaty as published yesterday in the Observer. He denounces ‘Eurosceptic’ celebrations at the Irish vote as a farrago of lies and disinformation. OK. Let’s proceed. WH v CC. WH: The reality is that Ireland’s ‘no’ voters have […]
