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Brussels, 09/10/2018. Europe’s pension savings gap remains dangerously large, exceeding €2 trillion a year, which is about equivalent to 13% of Europe’s GDP (Mind the Gap 2016, Aviva). This is by far the biggest financial issue facing EU citizens, their children and grandchildren, believes Better Finance in Brussels. With government […]

Brussels, 19/09/2018. It was at the Byline Festival in August 2018 that I first became acquainted with the term PACs, or Political Action Groups, when American journalist Caroline Orr discussed the baleful influence of so-called SuperPACs on the American democratic process. I had not heard the term before, though had […]

Oxford, Sept 2018. Overland Event at the end of August 2018, in Hill End camp near Oxford, was inspiring and mundane in equal proportions. Inspiring because it brought together the largest gathering of long-distance motorcycle travellers I have seen, and mundane because in other respects it was a normal, if […]

The cellar in my old house has reached a wall temperature of 20 degrees. For the first time in 28 years, it is actually warm. My local climate has changed – does such climate drying warn of future human disaster, or is this too far-fetched? 13/08/2018. The climate change ‘is […]

Brussels, 12/06/2018. The Civil Liberties committee of the European Parliament (LIBE) has called on the EU Commission to suspend the EU/US Privacy Shield agreement on data exchange of personal data, since this (relatively new) agreement still fails to provide sufficient data protection for EU citizens. Privacy Shield should be suspended […]

          Goodbye to the quiet, pleasant suburb that once was Headington (Oxford). I had to laugh at the Oxford Mail’s puff piece of the time (4th January 2016) for the new Barton Park (Oxford) development and its “waterfront” villas. The only waterfront will be the expanded […]

Brussels, 03/05/2018. I went to a press conference yesterday. In the Brussels Press Club, it promised to be interesting. Apparently the nuclear-limitation agreement between Iran and the rest of the world is due to expire in nine days time. Tick-Tock, the conference was called. Should the agreement be extended? ‘Salvaged’ […]

Update, 06/02/2019. Sometimes, truth needs friends – the latest EU Greens/EFA whistleblower-protection campaign as the EU legislation grinds its way through the EU Council and Parliament. See: 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 […]

– being a compilation of instant, sometimes off-the-cuff reactions to the day-to-day Brexit saga ……   EU Parliament plenary approves post-Brexit visa waiver for UK nationals 04/04/2019 Update. The full European Parliament, with 502 votes to 81 and 29 abstentions, today backed the draft EU law exempting UK citizens from […]

Brussels, 31/01/2018. ACEM’s ‘Sustainable motorcycling in Europe’ conference last week in Brussels was a fascinating blend between the usual Brussels EU conference (suits, eurocrats, industry execs, etc.) and what has traditionally been seen as a niche pursuit (riding motorcycles). ACEM’s aim (representing as it does the motorcycle manufacturers) is of […]