A final thought on that David Miliband speech in Poland. It’s his use of the words ‘must’ and ‘need’. This is what he says the EU ‘must’ do. It must: adapt once again to the changing geopolitical context we face set itself a goal of creating a single, low-carbon, energy […]
Dan Hannan argues that Lord Mandelson’s manoeuvres to keep the Labour Party staggering on are all about Brussels, not about the UK interest or even the Labour Party’s own mistunes: So what the devil is he playing at? Viewed from the Westminster lobby, it seems an impenetrable mystery. From the […]
Welcome to BBRU 226. First things first Can you bake a good cake? Misssy M is struggling. Does the Objectification of Women via the explosion of pornography really lead to bad outcomes for women? Not at the Himmelgarten Café. Update: And, to get us into the swing of what follows, a magnificent example from Liberal England of European […]
There is a lot on this site about the problems we and the people of the former Yugoslav region face in where precisely the borders of new states should be, and how those new states should be defined. Try this. Or this. Former US Ambassador to Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia/Montenegro […]
My successor as HM Ambassador in Warsaw is in the Daily Mail being asked about the FCO’s policy to ‘promote’ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender (LGBT) rights. This question was put: Asked whether he would raise the rainbow flag at the British embassies in Iran or Saudi Arabia, Mr Todd […]
Orwell Prize-winner Johann Hari is the new generation’s answer to Polly Toynbee, a turbo-charged Progressive who pops up all over the place. It was he, you recall, who wrote a wildly wrong account of the railcrash episode in Atlas Shrugged: Indeed, her contempt for ordinary people extends so far that […]
Undeterred by doing worse than the British National Party in the 2005 election result in Blackburn, former Ambassador Craig Murray is back on the campaign trail. He is running as a local lad independent candidate in the North Norwich by-election, under the slogan "honest people can fight back". And he is going […]
Brown was not discomforted alone. Parties of the centre left fell back across Europe despite the crisis of global capitalism. Michael White in the Guardian glumly picks through the wreckage of the Labour Party’s crashing failure last night in the European elections. Maybe parties of the centre left fell back […]
How to explain the frantic efforts of Gordon Brown to stay at No 10? One seriously insane theory I have heard, and NB it is insane, runs as follows. Remember that idea that Tony Blair wants to be the first ‘President of Europe’ once the Lisbon Treaty comes into force? That […]
Don’t you just shed a silent tear when you look at Government ‘mission statements’? You know the sort of thing: Working towards a safer Britain Why would they do that? What’s with the -r? Why not work towards a safe Britain? Here’s a real life example from Scotland: Towards a Safer […]
