The lovely town of Encamp, Andorra This last weekend, the Centre Left took time out on a team-building weekend in Andorra (it was quite a wrench moving all the editorial staff and the IT infrastructure, but all for you, dear reader, all for you…) Tucked away between France and Spain in the Pyrenees, it’s a… Continue reading Britain outside the EU – an Andorran aside
Category: Europe
Camps vs Garzón: an extraordinary inversion of justice
Carlos Liria, friend of former President Camps, on the hotel balcony minutes before the jury was Imagine a major British political figure, like the Mayor of London or the First Minister of Scotland, in the middle of a political scandal which everyone thought he would go down for. At the last minute a jury finds him not guilty… Continue reading Camps vs Garzón: an extraordinary inversion of justice
Democracy falters, in a country near you
All of us sometimes have mixed feelings about the EU but, in one area, even its harshest critics would have to reluctantly agree that it has succeeded. In its expansion eastwards it has helped consolidate democratic rule where there previously was none, aligned militarily and politically towards the West and away from an increasingly less… Continue reading Democracy falters, in a country near you
It’s the financial markets, stupid
‘The real game’s not over here’ – Lou Reed What is the main thing driving the urgency of a solution to the euro crisis? Why, the financial markets, of course. Not because they should be calling the shots, but just the obvious reason, that you need to keep them on board in times of crisis… Continue reading It’s the financial markets, stupid
How we all look from the other side of the world
We are all taught at school about the five, or even the seven, continents. But in business and elsewhere many still think of the world in three groupings, matching the three broad time-zones, or the three big financial centres, of the developed world: Europe, America and Asia. In each there exists an informal hub for… Continue reading How we all look from the other side of the world
Cameron’s history notes 1: Achilles, revisited
Last week, David Cameron had a bad week. But it’s important to understand what kind of a bad week. He’s had not a defeat, but a sour victory in the Commons against his own rebels; but so did Tony Blair on two memorable occasions – Iraq and tuition fees – when he feared he might… Continue reading Cameron’s history notes 1: Achilles, revisited
ETA: really the beginning of the end?
In recent days, rather extraordinary news has been breaking about the last remaining home-grown terrorist group in Europe. Yesterday a conference in San Sebastian, involving no lesser figures than Kofi Annan, Bertie Ahern and Gerry Adams, reached out to ETA and it is strongly felt that a positive response is likely. Other notable figures such… Continue reading ETA: really the beginning of the end?
We can’t spend another 50 years like this
As I meander through Hugo Young’s outstanding A Blessed Plot, a highly readable history of Britain’s vexed relationship with Europe, the theme of head-in-the-sand denial of the inevitable is a constant one. One particularly striking thing is that the fundamental arguments have not really changed, and that Britain’s attitude has usually been one of fatal underestimation… Continue reading We can’t spend another 50 years like this
The euro paradox: the lesson is better institutions, not less
This week, our sleepy European politicians seem to be waking up to the dangers of the euro crisis: even George Osborne seems to be starting to panic just a little. Aside from the delicious irony of a Euro-sceptic Tory Chancellor arguing for more integration, there are important lessons which we need to be drawing. Britain, it is surely… Continue reading The euro paradox: the lesson is better institutions, not less
Warning: Euro-iceberg approaching
As we pass an unusually newsworthy summer on the domestic front with phone-hacking and riots, not to mention economic wobbles in the US and China, let alone Libya, it might be wise to return for a moment to the iceberg edging towards our own continent, its long-term significance for Britain ultimately liable to outstrip all… Continue reading Warning: Euro-iceberg approaching