Monthly Archives: December 2010

On Dec 27th I attended the “Boxing Day” meet of the Fernie hunt (delayed because the 26th was a Sunday), and I wrote about it on by blog, below, partly as a celebration of a great English tradition, partly as … Continue reading →

And perhaps smelling the coffee?  Is it just wishful thinking on my part?  Or are they starting, just occasionally, to make sense on the great issues of the day, and to abandon their knee-jerk, Guardianista soft-left (and not-so-soft-left) stance?   … Continue reading →

Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson has to be good for something, even if it’s only a clichéd quotation.  I was reminded of this one by the juxtaposition of two contrasting stories earlier this week. First, we heard that the … Continue reading →

  Today Sara and I went to the Fernie Hunt Meet at Great Bowden.  This is the traditional Boxing Day event, but the Hunt doesn’t meet on a Sunday, so the event was held over until the 27th.  Great Bowden, … Continue reading →

1. We trust the Daily Mail!   It’s telling us that Global Warming will inevitably give us colder winters in Europe.  Of course.  So silly of me!  Why didn’t I see that before?  Apparently as the Arctic ice recedes (not that … Continue reading →

A couple of months back I was in Riga, Latvia, and having a spare evening I checked out the programme at Riga’s charming Opera House. They were doing Le Corsaire. I didn’t know the work, but a quick check on … Continue reading →

Last week, the inimitable Boris Johnson wrote a splendid Telegraph opinion piece on the euro, entitled “Snooty Europhiles should be forced to crawl in penitence”. It concluded: “We (the sceptics) have been vindicated, and the least they can do is … Continue reading →

Or does it just seem that way? We face a situation where there is almost nothing that the government and the security services can do about known terrorist suspects, in cases where there is insufficient evidence to mount a full-scale … Continue reading →

Last week I attended an event in Strasbourg organised by my good colleague Nirj Deva MEP (SE).  Nirj is a good Catholic gentleman, and he had invited the Irish Ambassador to the Holy See to come and address us.  The … Continue reading →

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Sometimes I worry that I am out of touch with popular culture.  I know nothing at all about football, and even less about pop music.  And while most young people (I have the impression) know all about drugs, and could … Continue reading →

I was brought up short by a piece in Open Europe’s daily press summary (which by the way is an invaluable tool — do think about signing on for it).  I reproduce it verbatim: Writing in European Voice, Lib Dem … Continue reading →

Following the launch of my recent poster campaign, a Derby academic, Dr Richard Pope, university reader in climate change, writing in the Derby Telegraph said I was probably correct regarding the “chaos” surrounding current climate change policies and the possibility … Continue reading →

Dear Geoffrey, Like many commentators, you frequently use the phrase “Pre-Industrial Temperatures” – most recently in your piece today (Dec 13th) in the Telegraph on Cancun.  I should be grateful if you could clarify this term for me. Do you … Continue reading →

Cancun, Dec 9th. Today was pretty much my last day at the Conference — I fly home tomorrow — so I was really keen to hear the up-date from Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard at five o’clock. Was there any progress? … Continue reading →