Estd. 2002. Politics, tech, startups, media, law, history, philosophy
Entries have been terribly scarse from me of late. My lack of serious effort in recent weeks has meant a noticeable drop in visitors comments and referrals.
One gets out of blogging exactly what one puts in. If a blog is not updated regularly, if the posts are poor, if links are lazy, the blog will get its just desserts – no visitors and no readers.
Put work into blogging and you will be rewarded.
A kangaroo with a kid in its pouch at Fota Wildlife Park, Cobh, Co.Cork.
William Pfaff writes a good take on EU expansion, he gives the whole moral argument that was given to the Irish during the Nice Referendum, I dont buy it. If a country in Europe wants to join – let it – once it meets the criteria needed.
This idea that we are doing it for some higher moral sense is balderdash. We are doing it to expand the union for more members, markets and money.
I do like Pfaffs take on the British media…
Moral intensity is a striking quality in the European debate, evident last weekend at the 29th Ambrosetti strategic workshop in Italy, bringing together more than 300 political and business figures, mainly but not exclusively European.
A score of Americans were there, including Tom Ridge, the homeland security secretary, and the ubiquitous neoconservative publicist Richard Perle, currently suffering shock and denial concerning Iraq.
Otherwise, there were the chancellor of Austria; the prime ministers of France, Spain and Turkey; Germany and Spain’s foreign ministers; cabinet ministers from Italy, Turkey, Russia and Austria; and prominent EU commissioners. The archbishop of Paris and members of the new governing council of Iraq completed the assembly.
I emphasize the breadth of the participation and the intensity of the debate because American readers are often led to see “Europe” through the lens of the right-wing British press: in the caricature of a meddling and quasi-socialist bureaucracy.
That might even be desirable, in terms of efficiency, flexibility and prospective European political power. The original six include all of the major European economies except Britain, Sweden and Spain. Nonexpansion might even be the expedient choice for those who want the EU to become a major international actor.
It is a moral consideration that all the rest must be given the opportunity for full membership. If they refuse, it will be their choice. Either way, Europe shall change.
Had a thoroughly enjoyable discussion with Tom Watson MP, in the lovely surroundings of Westminster Parliament yesterday afternoon.
Tom notes:
He gave me some great ideas about how to spruce up this blog, some of which will get me the sack. If there are any lobby journalists reading this – he’s an impressive fellow and could do with some more work.
Haha, well just some suggestions, not that I am any great expert myself. And yes! Hire me! Hire me! 🙂
Tom is a politician enthusiastic about technology and crazy about blogging – if only there were more like him. During an hour and a half we did come up with an array of ideas for the weblog, and discussed a variety of issues. I hope I can be of some help in the future Tom.
The Bush administration has decided to postpone enforcement of new antiterrorism regulations that had threatened to block millions of Western Europeans and citizens of other developed nations from traveling to the United States unless they obtained new, computer-coded passports, according to senior administration officials.
The new passport rules, which were supposed to take effect Oct. 1 and which were mandated by Congress as an antiterrorism measure, will not be enforced until October 2004.
I will be meeting up with now veteran political blogging MP Tom Watson tomorrow for a chat. I met him briefly before, in a haze of booze and lobbyists. Looking forward to meeting up again, and getting his thoughts on blogging, and the future for blogging politicians.
Heres an interesting story.
Maybe, just maybe, life existed on the planet Venus. A new study reveals that Venus may have had an atmosphere like our own and liquid water for up to 2 billion years, before a greenhouse effect enveloped the planet.
Mars and Venus are the two most likely candidates for life given their proximity to the sun.
David Aaronovitch fisks Meacher in today’s Guardian. The Sep 11 theory is ever so slightly off the wall, there are just way too many holes in his argument, and David does a good job of scuppering the whole thing.
The oxygen-starved aftermath of an immense global belch of methane left land animals gasping for breath and caused the Earth’s largest mass extinction, suggests new research.
Greg Retallack, an expert in ancient soils at the University of Oregon in Eugene, says his theory also explains the mysterious survival of a barrel-chested reptile that became the most common animal on the planet after the end of the Permian period, 251 million years ago.
Paleontologists have long puzzled over the mass extinction at the end of the Permian. There is no evidence for a large asteroid impact, but sharp changes in carbon isotope ratios indicate something triggered massive releases of frozen methane hydrates from under the sea floor and in permafrost.
Tony Blair seems to be living under the impression that the EU Constitution is required for the 10 new members to join next year. He is mistaken. All the measures required for enlargement were brought about by the Nice Treaty.
Or at least thats what the Irish people were told in two referenda. No to Nice = two fingers to former communist countries, we were told.
But I’m not so sure. The first result of Nice should have been accepted by Europe, instead it was ignored, and then reheld a year later.
The language of Blair is strikingly similar to that used by European politicians in the lead up to Nice 2. How odd. When Jack Straw was on the Today programme this morning I was struck that his position is exactly that of the Irish government in 2002 – arguing that Nice is *needed*.
But Nice has already been passed in the UK, it never went to referendum. The streamlining he speaks has already been done through Nice. So what is the real motive?
