Media & Communications

In Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Reg, a character played by John Cleese, famously asks what the Romans have ever done for the people of Judaea. That no one had asked this question before may have been because Roman rule had become taken for granted. But after a moment’s reflection, his fellow freedom fighters quickly […]

Whilst most of Europe is analysing the latest EP election results and journalists are calling academics for an expert assessment, this blog post will take a slightly different perspective and instead focus on how we – academics/researchers – engage the public in a dialogue about for example the EU. Research dissemination has become a central […]

Anti-EU parties have made huge gains in the European Parliament elections 2014 and caused what the headlines are describing as an ‘earthquake’. But despite this, pro-EU parties still retain the most seats in the European Parliament, and the European Peoples Party* – strong supporters of the European Union project – is still Europe’s biggest party with […]

Yesterday morning on BBC radio 4 Prof Michael Sandel animated an episode of the Public Philosopher on the thorny issue of “Why vote?” in the context of Thursday’s local and European elections.  The episode opened with Sandel asking members of the public why they would not vote in the forthcoming election. Expecting answers based on […]

The owls at the European Parliamentary Research Service have recently compiled an excellent list of ‘100 Books on Europe to be Remembered’. The list includes a summary of each book, a biography of the author and in some cases, access to the full text. You’ll see many familiar names there, including a number of current […]

In a debate organised last Thursday by the University of East Anglia’s Student Union, Geoffrey van Orden (Conservative Member of the European Parliament [MEP]) asked “If Nigel Farage thinks all laws are being made in Brussels why is he so desperate to get into Westminster?”. This can be understood as a comment on the UK Independence […]

The outcome of the European Parliament elections on May 22 will determine the composition of the European Parliament (EP) as an institution which has been given considerable powers to influence the EU’s future direction. But it is doubtful whether the novelty of parties’ nominating “candidates for Commission President” will contribute much to lifting voters turn-out […]

Ignored by the PCC: My 13 reasons  Tonight the Press Complaints Commission ruled that one complaint it received about the Daily Mail was now ‘resolved’ and so a ruling would not be necessary on the other 82 complaints.  The PCC received at least 83 complaints about the Daily Mail story which falsely claimed  buses and […]

In the last 15 months since David Cameron’s speech on Europe, the issue of EU red tape (i.e. EU rules imposing unnecessary costs on businesses) has featured prominently on political and media agendas. Initiatives such as the “Cut EU red tape” report by the Business Taskforce in October 2013,[1] and the ongoing balance of competence […]

The PCC has rejected 81 complaints against The Daily Mail Note: scroll down for updates – this is a breaking story Over 80 complaints to the Press Complaints Commission against the Daily Mail’s story that incorrectly claimed buses and planes to the UK from Romania and Bulgaria were ‘full-up and sold-out’ have been rejected and […]