Archive for October, 2011
From Our Man in Tehran
Posted by admin in Foreign Affairs on 30/10/2011
Iranian Man in local restaurant: there are two parts to Iran, the people and the government – and they are like this . . . (indicating wide and widening split).
Lady at the airport the female dress code: that they hate it and so they wear more and more makeup . but they are taken off in busloads, made to swear they won’t do it again and fined.
We’re going to need a bigger bazooka!
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, European Union, Politics on 28/10/2011
On Thursday some greeted rises in world stock markets as a sign that the EU’s bail-out ‘bazooka’ had worked in scaring away speculators and reassuring the markets. Today’s news that Italy has had to sell 10 year bonds at a record high price indicates that simply inflating the bail-out fund is no panacea.
A CAP on Growth
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 27/10/2011
By Scott Benson
Last night’s Eurozone summit may have provided a plan to help solve the immediate sovereign debt crisis but the competitiveness of European industries still remains a cause for concern. This is particularly true in agriculture where EU policy-makers struggle to reconcile the demands of the industry with environmental sustainability.
Knowledge is power, but only if someone’s listening
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Education, Politics, Social Cohesion on 27/10/2011
By Emily Clarke
The recent media interest in the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy London Stock Exchange movements has certainly been mixed. From sympathy to contempt to exasperation on the part of St Paul’s cathedral staff at least, the protests and people’s reactions to them are proving difficult to pin down.
Der seltsame Fall des Dr. Jekyll und Mr. Hyde
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, European Union, Foreign Affairs, Politics on 21/10/2011
While British politicians gear up for a debate on whether or not to hold a referendum on EU membership, and discussion swirls around how the British public feels about Europe, perhaps more important is how the German public feels.
Look before EU leap
Posted by Natalie Hamill in European Union on 20/10/2011
By Lucy Hatton
Following Tuesday’s decision by the House of Commons Backbench Business Committee, MPs have finally been given the go-ahead to debate whether or not a referendum should be held on the UK’s membership of the European Union. On 24 October, MPs will debate a motion which calls upon the Government to hold a referendum on EU membership, with three potential answers: the UK should remain a member of the EU, leave the EU or renegotiate its terms of membership.
