The EU

Today, May 9th, is Europe Day. Each year it is the day we celebrate peace and unity in Europe. I believe that, on such an occasion, it is worth reminding ourselves of the European Union’s motto, United in Diversity. Diversity is one of the foundations and core values of universities. They share these core values […]

Earlier this week, I was quoted in a Daily Telegraph piece about Grassroots Out (GO). The article had noted that ten seeming-offshoots of the group had been registered with the Electoral Commission as participants in the referendum campaign. If the Commission were to consider them as separate, then taken together they would be free to spend as […]

The chairman of Aviva, Britain’s biggest insurance company, said at their AGM yesterday that the company would prefer to “avoid the uncertainty” of Brexit. Sir Adrian Montague, CBE, the company’s new chairman, was answering a shareholder’s question about the board’s view on the EU referendum. At first he gave a guarded response. “I am not […]

Inga Ulnicane ‘Crisis should not be wasted’. Since the beginning of the global economic crisis in 2008, this idea has been repeated many times suggesting that crisis should rather be used as an opportunity for innovative solutions and necessary reforms. One of such potential changes emphasized by European institutions has been prioritization of research and […]

A straightforward comparison between Britain remaining in the EU and leaving isn’t possible. That’s because we know what ‘Remain’ in the EU means – it’s the status quo and we’ve experienced it for four decades. But Leave? Nobody knows; nobody can say for sure. Even those campaigning for Britain to leave the European Union cannot […]

So now the truth is out. The ‘Leave’ campaign don’t just want Brexit – they want to see the end of the European Union. Justice Secretary, Michael Gove, said as much in his keynote speech this week for Vote Leave, the official campaign which he leads, fighting for Brexit in Britain’s EU referendum. Mr Gove […]

Isn’t it strange how history sometimes seems to repeat itself? Not always in exactly the same way, but in ways to make it seem uncanny. Take the remarkable resemblances between the referendum of 1975 and the one we’re having now, both regarding Britain’s future in Europe. Back in 1974 Labour leader, Harold Wilson, won a […]

The opening of the official campaign on the EU referendum hasn’t been all fireworks; instead, it’s been mostly more of the same. Each side trading consequences and perils, questioning the other side’s competence or intent. In particular, we’ve been lacking vision. The vision thing is an easy one of trash: too many overtones of Tony […]

Monday 11 April saw the launch of an impartial and independent review: the EU referendum and the UK environment. Authored by 14 international experts – and led by the three of us – this review draws on the findings of over 700 publications to investigate how has EU membership affected the UK and what might […]

The borders are coming up all over Europe, secession is constantly on the agenda, and a line separate Southern Europe from northern Europe. It sounds like European current affairs, but these are central themes of Dave Hutchinson’s science fiction novel “Autumn in Europe” (2014). In January, my colleague Laura Horn, who is interested in the […]