http://www.eu-corruption.com Secrecy is the enemy of democracy Thu, 26 Jun 2008 17:07:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Thanks to EU Referendum for the pointer to this RTL report featuring Hans Peter Martin quizzing MEPs about their expenses in Parliament. A fine comedy moment is provided by Green MEP Hiltrud Breyer running into a wall to escape the cameras. Martin may have 1,500 hours of tape. Via a commenter on ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/26/come-out-of-the-lift-what-is-the-problem/ I'll be travelling until Thursday 26 June, so no posting for the next few days. See you next week. http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/21/radio-silence/ Certainly, bargaining is an important and necessary component of politics. But it helps to be aware how much the chips you're playing with are worth. Gordon Brown perhaps believes habeas corpus - the duty to charge a person or release them from custody - is worth very little. He appears to have ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/20/brown-sells-uk-freedoms-to-the-cuban-government/ Jon Worth is surveying and linking to reactions to Ireland's No-vote, better than I'm able to. Go here. http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/15/round-up-of-reactions-to-irelands-no/ Despite appearances this isn't a eurosceptic blog. But transparent and honest government is good government. Furthermore Lisbon was trying to achieve certain things that were necessary. With that in mind, this post presents thoughts on a way foward. My suggestions will seem absurd, radical, even childish to anyone who enjoys intellectual games ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/14/a-way-forward/ All constituencies have now reported. Irish voters have rejected the Lisbon Treaty. With results in from all 43 constituencies, the Lisbon Treaty has been defeated by a margin of 53.4% to 46.6%.  A total of 752,451 people voted in favour of the treaty and 862,415 voted against. Just 10 constituencies - Clare, Dublin South, Dublin South East, Dublin ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/13/that-wraps-it-up/ Lisbombed. 5 reasons why the Irish voted no, apparently. The No side got a head-start, the No side had a simple message, the No side were populist, people were afraid, people were confused. None of these look at the text of the treaty itself, and none of them suggest that ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/13/gordon-brown-on-lisbon-do-i-look-bovvered/ 13:14: The story so far - this blog was right to call it a NO as early as it did. "With five constituencies having declared results the No vote is leading by 54 per cent to 46 per cent.  Waterford, Sligo-North Leitrim, Tipperary North and South, Kerry North have all rejected ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/13/euro-falls-against-dollar-but-not-by-much/ 12:16: On a reflective note, this week represents a widening split between the people and the elites. Yesterday, David Davis resigned as shadow Home Secretary for the Tories, in order to campaign for his seat again on the issue of civil liberties. The UK press has criticised him hard, but there are ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/13/hard-facts-be-damned-this-is-the-place-for-idle-speculation-about-the-lisbon-referendum/ The polls opened at 7am for Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. The first exit polls will appear at around 11am. I'll be posting updates. 12:30pm - UPDATE: No exit polls, but anecdotal evidence of low, high, and average turnouts courtesy of RTE here. In other words nobody knows what's happening.  15:54pm - ... http://www.eu-corruption.com/2008/06/12/lisbon-referendum-polls-open/