Brussels, 18/04/2018. The European Commission is expected to propose a new EU-wide whistleblower-protection law within the week. The proposed regulation is an attempt to protect citizens from the often devastating personal consequences they face for simply reporting fraud or corruption, while at the same time erecting safeguards against “malicious or […]

      Why Brexit is the right future for the EU, as well as for Britain (in my humble opinion). Brussels, 17/12/2017. It would be unnatural not to have doubts about the wisdom of Brexit. The news reports play a daily tune on the latest setback or political difficulty, […]

    Why is it that my country is so poor? I ask myself this question after listening to the latest set of economic and social problems emerging on today’s BBC Radio 4. Of course doom and gloom in the news is everyday ordinary (it is the journalist’s bread and […]

  – being a compilation of instant, sometimes off-the-cuff reactions to day-to-day reportings ……     European Commission preparing EU legislation to protect whistleblowers 05/03/2018. Vera Jourová, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equity, speaking to the LIBE Committee in the European Parliament, 05 March 2018. She said, speaking […]

Brexit-Shorts – being a compilation of instant, sometimes off-the-cuff reactions to the day-to-day Brexit saga …… EU vision over Brexit? Not … 04/12/2017. Clearly the various EU establishments are determined to make life as difficult as possible for the UK during the Brexit negotiations. The image of Donald Tusk, that […]

Update 08/12/2016. Recent research under the EU’s Graphene Flagship programme (http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=170781&CultureCode=en) has shown how graphene’s electrical properties can underpin much more powerful sensors. The benefits of such sensors can be double-edged. Graphene’s ability to sense impact could be used in a very positive way – for example enabling an in-helmet […]

        “Besides journalists’ legal protections, equivalent protections should be extended to the people who risk their livelihoods, and lives, to bring this information to light in the first place,” wrote Lauren Kirchner, reporting on Columbia Journalism Schools’ seminar “Journalism after Snowden” in January 2014. See this piece […]

          Tales from a Brussels bar – Brexit 3 The bar was quieter tonight. The usual suspects were there – we had planned to discuss Brexit again. But no-one wanted to tallk about it immediately – Maj and co. had gone off to play darts, others […]

          Tales from a Brussels bar – Brexit 2 Stassos was quoting Shakespeare, but in slightly modified form. “Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of European fortune – or to take arms … that’s what you want to do.” He […]

          Tales from a Brussels bar – Brexit 1 It was a fine Spring evening in Brussels, the sun lingering on the pavements – quite the best time of the year in the city. Steve the Bar had put a couple of barrels and stools outside, […]