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Latest News
- In this new book, Brendan Donnelly and Hugh Dykes, both former Conservative parliamentarians, critically review British attitudes towards the European Union, particularly those of the media and political classes. They...
- Federal Union held its AGM and annual conference on 17 March 2012. The morning session, entitled “Can the European Union be saved?”, looked at the European treaty agreed at the...
- By John Parry Review of “The Council of Europe” by Martyn Bond (Routledge Global Institutions Series, price £75 hardback) It was summer 1949. In the village of Le Hohwald, tucked...
Latest Blog Entries
- How the world turns - 20/05/2012It is not only the world of politics that is turned upside down by the European banking crisis and the ineffectual way in which political leaders are dealing with it. ...
- Authentic euroscepticism - 20/05/2012A very interesting article in the Daily Telegraph last Friday by Jeremy Warner (read it here) sums up the eurosceptic dilemma and reveals the perverse nature of the way they...
- Overwhelming - 18/05/2012This blog has described before the difficulties associated with Greek departure from the eurozone. It would reduce the Greeks to a cash or even barter economy for a while, and...
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Scotland Archive
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A vote on Scottish independence?
Posted on 01/12/2009 | 1 CommentA settlement of Scotland’s long-running constitutional debate came a step closer yesterday with the publication of a White Paper outlining a road to independence. Four different scenarios are set out for the future relationship between Scotland and the rest of the UK, with the aim... -
Silence over the Lockerbie bomber
Posted on 26/08/2009 | 1 CommentGordon Brown has resisted calls to express an opinion on whether or not the Scottish government was correct to grant a compassionate release to the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. He has made clear his views on issues such as England’s defeat of Australia to... -
Not enough separation in Scotland
Posted on 24/08/2009 | 1 CommentThe recent decision by Scottish justice sectary Kenny MacAskill to free, on compassionate grounds, the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi has provoked a storm. American politicians are complaining, British politicians are complaining, and now Scottish politicians are complaining. An emergency debate was held in the... -
Who frees the Lockerbie bomber?
Posted on 19/08/2009 | 1 CommentDaily Mail editorials aren’t the first place this blog would look for insightful and relevant comment, but today an interesting question is raised regarding the fate of the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi. Mr Megrahi, a Libyan citizen, was convicted of murder for the deaths... -
Federal Union review of 2008
Posted on 07/01/2009 | No CommentsThe annual review I wrote this time last year took as its theme the word relief. This year, we can even allow ourselves a little hope. The ratification process for the Lisbon treaty is back on track, the rejection in the Irish referendum in June... -
Finding an identity
Posted on 19/09/2008 | 1 CommentAn interesting essay by immigration minister Liam Byrne, entitled “A more united kingdom”, deserved a better press than it got when it was published earlier this week. Most attention was given to the suggestion that there should be a public holiday to celebrate of “Britishness”... -
Federal Union review of 2007
Posted on 02/01/2008 | No CommentsThe overwhelming sentiment from the year just gone must be one of relief. Relief that the EU finally agreed the Lisbon Treaty and got its institutional progress back on track. Looking back at the failed referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005, the strongest... -
What’s in a name
Posted on 30/05/2007 | 1 CommentInteresting to see that the new Scottish Nationalist administration in Edinburgh has adopted the term “government” to describe itself. The previous Labour administration was always coy about the term: it used the phrase “Scottish Executive” instead. I noticed the difference in the statements by new... -
Representing Scotland
Posted on 22/01/2007 | 1 CommentA marvellous report on the BBC today that the Scottish Executive is being sidelined in the making of UK policy at European level. (Read the report here.) Of course, such an assessment – which originated in the Brussels office of the Scottish Executive itself –... -
The centralising curse of UK Treasury rules
Posted on 04/05/2006 | No CommentsBy George Irvin Britain’s public finance is highly centralised by the standards of the European Union and the OECD. The degree to which tax revenue is centralised is far higher here than in Germany, Spain or even France. Council tax accounts for only a fifth...
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