The 2004 European Football Championship has kicked off with a shock in the opening game as the hosts Portugal were beaten 2-1 by Greece. Elsewhere, Spain began the tournament with a 1-0 win against Russia.

It is not just my personal experience that many people’s opinions about the EU and its institutions are predominantly based on a political chicken and egg problem: No one knows what came first, ignorance or lack of interest; however, both do a great job in reinforcing each other.
A particularly eye-opening experience for me was the [...]

It is not just my personal experience that many people’s opinion’s about the EU and its institutions are predominantly based on a political chicken and egg problem: No one knows what came first, ignorance or lack of interest; however, both do a great job in reinforcing each other.
A particularly eye-opening experience was the change od [...]

Elections to the European Parliament is tomorrow for some of you, the 13th for most of us. What party do you plan to vote for? (Will you vote?) Why?

[Accidentallly published a draft. Sorry.]

Kevin Drum has an analysis of the recent failures in Iraq that merit some serious consideration. His point is that where many see the Iraq war as a good idea that was ruined by incompetent leadership, there is a more fundamental problem. Setting up the regime people thought they were installing in Iraq [...]

Johan “In defense of Global Capitalism” Norberg really doesn’t like Joseph Stiglitz, but he really, really likes Jagdish Bhagwati. I found that interesting because my impression - based on reading op-eds and reviews of their respective globo books - was that while Stiglitz has adopted the posture of a critic of “globalization” and Bhagwati the [...]

There was an enormous spam attack overnight. It came to about 300 posts. I’m trying to install some software to more permanently forstall this problem.
I’ve deleted all the offending posts, but it’s possible that I have deleted non-spam posts as well, although I did my best to avoid that outcome. If I [...]

Supermodels, astronauts, porn stars and journalists: BBC News looks at some of the famous (and infamous) candidates standing in the European Parliament elections

Although there are potentially looming problems of overcapacity and concerns about subsidies, it’s hard to deny that the emergence of budget airlines over the last decade has revolutionised travel among European countries, not only through cheap fares but also by allowing more flexible travelling arrangements, with a greater choice of flight departures and destinations. [...]