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Anthony Zacharzewski

Anthony Zacharzewski

Working to make European democracy work. "Refreshingly free of the usual platitudes". Belge par choix, Brits door opvoeding. President of Demsoc.org but posts here are personal.

📍 Brussels

How the mighty are fallen

My local team, Brighton and Hove Albion – strugglers in the second tier of football here in the UK – met the former giants Leeds United today. Leeds were relegated from the top flight last year, after a nail-biting ever-so-near-escape. Surely tiddlers like Brighton couldn’t overcome the recently great Leeds? Final

The difference between the future and the past

(Minutes from the No. 10 Lobby briefing of journalists) “Asked if the Government remained committed to a draft Bill on [corporate manslaughter laws], the Prime Minister’s Spokesperson said that it would be inappropriate to comment on the contents of the forthcoming Queen’s Speech. Put to her that she

Faith-based politics

There is an interesting piece of opinion research available today from the Programme on International Policy Attitudes. The document itself is not long, and worth reading, but the take-away is that the Bush and Kerry supporters questioned don’t merely disagree on matters of policy or principle, they disagree on

Why partisan control of election process is wrong, part 9944

Apologies for mounting a personal hobby-horse again. The websites Voter Fraud Clearinghouse (Democratic-leaning), and HobbsOnline (Republican-leaning) contain a wide selection of reportage on alleged voting fraud. If even half the stories are true, it says a lot about the perversion of democratic governance that partisan office-holding covers in the US.

The end of the age of reason

There are times when even a politophile (or whatever you’d call it) just wants to fold his tent and slip away. Just stroll away from the issues that matter, and try and have what fun I can before the end comes. I’m getting that feeling again as the

Dispersit superbos

That Ron Suskind piece in the New York Times Magazine today is worth reading in full. It reinforces one of my central political views, that easy agreement is dangerous, and powerful people agreeing with each other is even more dangerous. Debate is not, to put it another way, a means

Imperial measurements

Ron Suskind, quoted at William Gibson’s blog offers a startling view of the current administration’s effect on the world.

Time marches on

Simon Hoggart‘s parliamentary sketch yesterday (which is not yet online) referred to a long-forgotten Lincolnshire MP from the 1830s and 40s. He was a perfect picture of the Tory grandee – opposing the railways, the expansion of education (because he had hated reading at Oxford) and the Great Exhibition (because

The labourer is worthy of his hire

The Center for Responsive Politics has a fascinating table showing a selection of ambassadors appointed by President Bush, and their campaign contributions to the Republicans, the Democrats, and the President personally.

Fascism and the conservative genius

David Neiwert is four sixths of the way through his series of pieces on fascism and the conservative movement. A longer exposition on a similar topic can be found at his “Rush, Newspeak and Fascism“. Both are worth reading, but I am not entirely convinced. Mr Neiwert has built up