Current Affairs

Crooked Timber has an interesting discussion, kicked off by Henry Farrell, on the meaning of the EU referendum vote. All the points he makes are well made, but I think he misses one important shift in the way that the EU is used. One of the principal reasons that the

A detailed breakdown (en français) here. Interestingly, 72% of voters (and more than half of No voters) want the process of European construction to continue. More than half of No voters said they voted no because of “Dissatisfaction with the current economical and social situation in France”. The most popular

Anthony Barnett, writing on the Open Democracy blog, gets it right on the referendum result – France saying no is OK, Britain saying no if others say yes would be bad. Discussion at Fistful of Euros.

It was hypocrisy galore down at the courts today, as the protesters who stormed the Commons chamber to protest at the hunting ban were convicted of breaching public order. One, Luke Tomlinson – often mentioned as a friend of one of those Princes – said: “I have never committed a criminal offence

Terry Wogan – he of the xenophobic pub bore commentary – just said ‘vote for the Gypsies’ when the Hungarian song was voted for. Calls for his resignation, anyone?

Fistful of Euros reports on Dutch Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm’s disquiet about the forthcoming European referendum in the Netherlands.

It’s strange that the US is moving further towards political control of the judiciary, just as the UK is moving away from it, with the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission. The US already, of course, has a fair degree of political control, but at least the filibuster kept

George Galloway’s hard-nosed performance at the Senate yesterday has been noted around the web. He was right on a lot of things, of course, and his bullish manner was something Sen. Norman Coleman presumably didn’t expect – the House of Commons and Jeremy Paxman are good teachers, it seems.

Don’t tell the islanders, but the CIA’s world factbook – which lists countries and their vital statistics – now lists the EU. Link: A Fistful of Euros.

Daily Kos discusses Blair’s mandate. Link: Daily Kos.