By sheer coincidence, I was in a position to talk to some UKIP activists yesterday, as the Godfrey Bloom ‘bongo-bongo’ story developed. I mention this, because a consistent issue for the party (and others) is the charge of media bias (or here, for (lots) more). ‘Let’s get it straight from the horse’s mouth’, was my thinking […]
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A chill wind is blowing through Russia’s relations with the USA (again), with references aplenty to Cold War thinking. Listen to most mainstream media coverage (and Twitter) and you would think that President Obama’s decision today to cancel his one to one with President Putin was all about Russia’s decision to offer Snowden asylum. That […]
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I am in a technology-orientated frame of mind at the moment. As I work on research that’s trying to understand the role of social media in the empowerment of citizens in political life, I am learning more than I thought I would about issues that affect me directly in a number of different ways. Yesterday, […]
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The summertime is a cruel one for politicians: everyone is focused on their holidays, rather than social justice or market liberalisation. The main political institutions are on a break and the media starts to develop an interest in esoterica. Even the politicians themselves feel that a pause is in order. However, for some that is […]
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It is sometimes instructive to look back on one’s work, to see how any predictions worked out. This time last year, I was writing about the announcement of the Review of Competences and wondering about where it would lead. The first batch of reports has now been released and it’s fair to say that much […]
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Welcome, Croatia: EU member state number 28. This is an incredible achievement, since the War of Independence only ended in 1995. In 18 years you have established yourself as a sovereign country and transitioned from communism to capitalism. You have in many ways overcome the human cost of the war and readied yourself for participation […]
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