I’ve been hoping Emmanuel or someone would step forward and explain what happened yesterday in the French Parliament.
Here’s the New York Times version:
When François Hollande, the Socialist Party leader, berated the French government for its handling of the crisis at Europe’s leading aerospace company, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lost control.
In an outburst that was [...]

Slovakia had elections this weekend. They don’t seem to have attracted much attention, but I think they’re worth a quick look.
Short version: a center-right government that was committed to controversial social and economic reforms got thrown out in favor of a left-wing populist.
Now, depending on what corner of the political spectrum you come from, [...]

So now, according to CNN, the US and various others are now talking about paying for an African Union peacekeeping force for Somaila. They just had some wanker on talking about how Somalia is a place where children don’t got to school, they join militias, where there’s no law and order, where “there’s been [...]

Well here in sunny Catalonia we don’t have a fooball team of our own right now, so maybe that’s why we chose this precise moment to hold a referendum about our future.
Now the first thing to get straight is that despite all the direst predictions, Spain is still here the morning after the big vote, [...]

normblog: The normblog profile 142: Geoffrey Chaucer

What would you do with the UN? > Ich wolde heale the grete schisme bitwene Rome and Avignon.

BBC News explains

in an opening round World Cup game goes to …
Italy!
Again!
(Or is that, “as usual”?)

A few months back, I picked up, on a lark, a short French novel called Allah Superstar authored by the pseudonymous Y.B. (generally known to be Yassir Benmiloud, columnist for the Algerian daily El Watan). I bought it entirely on the basis of the excerpt on the back cover:
Une fatwa, voilà ce qu’il [...]

I don’t know if these are also soccer cliches in English, but they are widely repeated bits of wisdom in German.
First, for our friends from Japan: “The game lasts 90 minutes.” Das Spiel dauert 90 Minuten. Bayern Munich learned this most famously in 1999, when the game lasted a little bit longer.
Second, for les [...]

If anyone has the energy to think about the European Constitution at the moment, I’m afraid this entry will not encourage you to keep up the effort.
Last week, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) put on a show for those of us in Brussels who are interested: a lunchtime meeting, discussing the way forward [...]