December 11, 2015
by Nosemonkey
10 Comments
Yesterday I returned from work to find an anti-EU leaflet on the doorstep. So you can imagine my surprise to find it was covered in an array of spurious bullshit. Let’s take a look, “point” by “point”: 1) EU cost. … Continue reading
January 23, 2014
by Nosemonkey
9 Comments
The pictures coming out of Kiev yesterday (decent galley here) gave me – and no doubt plenty of others – a bit of a flashback to November/December 2004’s Orange Revolution. The riots are in protest against the same president and … Continue reading
January 4, 2014
by Nosemonkey
8 Comments
Sock it to ‘im, Prof Evans! http://zite.to/1cr5zxb “‘ How can you possibly claim that Britain was fighting for democracy and liberal values when the main ally was Tsarist Russia? That was a despotism that put Germany in the shade and … Continue reading
January 3, 2014
by Nosemonkey
5 Comments
A review of a book I’ve been meaning to pick up (Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe, by Simon Winder) has some useful passages: “Austria-Hungary seems rarely to be taken seriously, appearing as ‘genial, backward and ineffectual, in a … Continue reading
January 1, 2014
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
From Jerry Brotton’s promising A History of the World in Twelve Maps (got for Christmas, currently reading, good so far, but too soon to properly rate it): “virtually all Greek wtiters point to Anaximander as the first thinker to provide … Continue reading
July 14, 2012
by Nosemonkey
26 Comments
So, supposedly in a bid to allow any future in-out referendum on UK membership of the EU to be based on facts rather than ideology (fat chance), Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced an “audit” of the influence of EU … Continue reading
June 9, 2012
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
Likely the first of many posts on this – as a fairly hardcore centrist (arguably a stupid concept in itself, that, if you ask most people today) with a dogmatic refusal to align myself to any one political party this … Continue reading
June 7, 2012
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on My return to blogging: A mission statement
There’s infinitely more being written about the EU these days than when I started this blog 9+ years ago. Some of it is excellent, some of it interesting, some of it utterly fatuous. My aim with this blog has always … Continue reading
June 6, 2012
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on The euro: A domesday machine
As a counter to the last post, an interesting from investment banker Marshall Auerback at EconoMonitor, worth a read for a bit of history on the (evidently flawed) economic assumptions underpinning the formation of the euro and some links to … Continue reading
May 30, 2012
by Nosemonkey
1 Comment
Interesting piece by an American investment and free trade advocate giving a handy bit of background to Greece’s money woes – just in case you weren’t pessimisitc enough already. Has some convincing, interesting points – worth reading in full: “Modern … Continue reading
May 28, 2012
by Nosemonkey
3 Comments
The New Yorker highlights the primary point that advocates of the “being able to devalue their currency would have saved Greece” / “they should just return to the drachma” / “let’s abolish the eurozone” crowd have yet – that I’ve … Continue reading
May 27, 2012
by Nosemonkey
Comments Off on A right-wing American history of the euro
A right-wing American take on the history of the EU and euro with which I don’t entirely agree. Except on this point – it’s mostly France’s fault, and mostly due to French national interest. (Which was why the Americans wanted Britain to join and be active in the first place, of course – to keep France in check…)
The question is, following this hypothesis, can the new French president change this pattern of repeated slow failure? Worth a read, if you’re not familiar with the classic US take on the EU.
July 2, 2011
by Nosemonkey
19 Comments
The way the (pro-EU) Guardian portrays it, he might well be with his speech as Poland took over the rotating EU presidency* yesterday: Assuming the rotating presidency of the EU for the first time, Donald Tusk rounded on the leaders … Continue reading
February 1, 2011
by Nosemonkey
14 Comments
Just found an interesting response to my UK-EU trade post from a couple of months back, from what is a new blog to me, Brittopic. It’s worth reading in full to see a few objections and some issues raised – … Continue reading