I thought Joshua Chaffin wrote a sensible piece today on the departure of Commissioner Ashton’s spokesman. In the meantime, take heart that Lutz is not leaving the Commission, but going back to DG Trade, where one suspects his lofty skills will be better appreciated. Nosemonkey gets it spot-on: No-one understands the EU. I guess I wouldContinue reading “Links 29 March 2010”
Monthly Archives: March 2010
Working for a living
This week is clearly careers week. I don’t think I’ve done a single careers talk since I arrived, and I’m doing two this week. On Monday we had someone from EPSO, our recruitment service, in the Rep holding open sessions for graduates (or soon-to-be-graduates) on the new round of recruitment and the new system. IContinue reading “Working for a living”
Links 23 March 2010
The RSS feed wasn’t really throwing up very much today, but Twitter has been a much richer source! If the EU matters to you in the upcoming election, Cosmetic Uprise has done the work for you on the parties’ manifestos. From the perspective of the EU being a good thing, I should add. as sheContinue reading “Links 23 March 2010”
Going to the birds
There’s a saying, isn’t there, about not pleasing all of the people all of the time. But when you work for the European Commission, there are certain people you can never please. I wrote a while ago about the Daily Mail bashing us for having rules on fruit and veg and taking away rules onContinue reading “Going to the birds”
Smalltown girl
A big thanks to the members of Abingdon European Society who welcomed me so warmly to their meeting on Saturday. I was there at their request to talk about recent developments in the European Union. I had quite a moment when the chairwoman introduced me saying I would talk for “about an hour”, knowing thatContinue reading “Smalltown girl”
Doing the Boo
I was at the London Wetlands Centre this morning for the launch of a new animated series called My Friend Boo, which is designed to be both informative and entertaining, in the best tradition of children’s TV. As it was part-financed by the European Commission’s LIFE+ financing programme (though we had no influence over content andContinue reading “Doing the Boo”
Coming week to 26 March
As promised, here’s what might be of interest next week. Please note, other events notification services exist (!) and I am selecting what seems important or relevant to the UK, so if I’ve missed something, it’s probably not intentional and certainly not any attempt to hide anything! 22 March London: launch of My Friend Boo,Continue reading “Coming week to 26 March”
Statement by European Commissioner Potocnik on bluefin tuna
We are disappointed with the outcome of the CITES meeting as regards the EU proposal for a listing in Appendix I of bluefin tuna. The EU proposal was a strong commitment towards a sustainable future for the bluefin tuna and for fishermen. We regret that other Parties were not convinced with the merits of suchContinue reading “Statement by European Commissioner Potocnik on bluefin tuna”
Links 18 March 2010
Is this going to be the Internet election? Or is it going to be the election where everyone talks about it being the Internet election? Here’s some evidence that seems to suggest the former, while not ruling out the latter! There is a pressing need for open debates in which ordinary voters can test candidates’Continue reading “Links 18 March 2010”
Links 17 March 2010
I know this has been around a while, but it truly is a genius idea. A folding plug. I liked this article about Macedonia for the author’s example of what makes him feel English Having been in England since the age of 11, I have a foot in both camps – or, more accurately, findContinue reading “Links 17 March 2010”