Here is the promotional flyer of a talk I have been invited to give at the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution:

It takes place on Wednesday February 1st at 1930 and you are most welcome to attend.

Given the catastrophic and humiliating mishandling of the EU summit yesterday, I started compiling what the international press had to say about it. (My translations, linked to foreign language article. Where no link is provided, it is on the front page of the website)

FRENCH:
Le Monde: Britain more isolated than ever
Libération: A European agreement (without Britain)
Le Figaro: Only Britain sulks over european agreement
Le Figaro: London pushes itself away from the European Union

SPANISH:

El País: Europe advances leaving UK isolated
El País: UK stands outside the agreement to strengthen Europe
Público: The EU gets rid of the UK in new austerity treaty
ABC: UK leaves the inner circle
ABC: UK heads out
El Mundo: UK- isolated in the EU
El Mundo: UK stands alone in the EU after Hungary’s ratification
La Vanguardia: EU agrees more fiscal integration and London pulls away
La Vanguardia: Euro summit ends with more fiscal integration and UK self-exclusion

Conference,

Today, Europe celebrates the 10th Annual European Day of Languages, a European Union initiative to appreciate linguistic diversity in Europe and promote language learning.

You might think it a bit of an anorak subject, and perhaps it is, but as a trainee interpreter of French and Spanish, it’s my anorak subject.

Britain cannot afford to lose languages, and it cannot afford to rely on the popular myth that everybody speaks English.

Ironically, it is only because English is widely spoken that we have a responsibility to promote, learn and use foreign languages.

As the party of openness and diversity, this should be a core Labour principle in foreign policy and in British diplomacy.

In the European Union, if a meeting cannot find any available English interpreters, that meeting is cancelled. Delaying the exchange of ideas, slowing down government, and hindering reform.

That’s bad for Europe, and bad for Britain.

In Brussels, Britain is often underrepresented because of a lack of language professionals.

In Business, Britain loses out to foreign enterprise because of a lack of language professionals. That means Labour loses the job creation and economic growth that goes with it.

English may be the lingua franca in many countries, but companies have to speak to customers in their own language.

So the business that do well are the business that go global.

As globalisation continues, languages are an obviously vital tool. Forging friendships, breaking barriers and sealing deals.

The Labour Party must be open to Europe.

Britain in the world needs languages, which is why, on the 10th European Day of Languages, Labour must not let Britain get tongue-tied or lost in translation, but be ready to promote, encourage and develop languages professionals.

Thank you.

Though Spain’s economic forecasts often make international headlines, its political forecasts rarely do.

When the outgoing President, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, brought the general election forward from March next year to November this year, he placed Spain at the beginning of a long year of elections, to be followed by the French Presidentials in May 2012, the London Mayoral election, the USA Presidentials and then German legislatives in 2013. By that time, Canada will probably have held another election for the sake of not being left out.

Though Canada has so many elections that they tend to blur together, the US campaign began 18 months before the election, and the French are busying themselves with candidate primaries, Spain wrapped up everything quickly. While it’s hard to distinguish one leader of Britain’s two and a half parties from another, both the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the People’s Party (PP) will be taken into the elections by two men with beards and nothing else in common.

Picking a candidate

In the parliamentary system, it was easy for the conservative People’s Party to choose their candidate as Mariano Rajoy, the leader of the PP and two-time election loser who appears to be third-time-lucky.

For the Socialists, however, the moment Zapatero announced that he would not run for a third term was the moment it was agreed to hold a primary. Out came the Vice President, the Government Spokesman and the Interior Minister, who all happen to be Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba; and the Defence Minister, Carme Chacón.

A week later Chacón withdrew her candidacy, supposedly on the advice of Zapatero, and a typical “challenge from the Left” came and went with indecent speed. The primaries were over before anyone had time to vote, and Rubalcaba became the Socialist candidate.

The Campaign Plan

The PSOE government, particularly Zapatero, has been heavily damaged by the economic crisis. Unsurprisingly, it is difficult for a Socialist government to contend with the particular difficulty of 20% unemployment. Although chronically unpopular, Rajoy hopes to keep quiet and stroll to an absolute majority boosted by the punishment vote.

This is why it came as a surprise when Zapatero announced the elections. Nobody had seen him for weeks. Rubalcaba, already present in his three jobs, appeared to take on the role of President as well.

By promoting Rubalcaba and hiding Zapatero, the PSOE hopes to regain its reputation for competence, a task for which Rubalcaba is uniquely qualified. As well as managing three government positions and his role as a Member of Parliament, Rubalcaba has taken part in almost every Socialist Government since the beginning of democracy.

It is hoped that Rubalcaba will be able to stop the bleeding and perhaps deprive Rajoy of his majority (from the School of Brown). Given that Rubalcaba’s task is as easy as swimming across the Pacific with a rucksack full of stones, it seems that a Socialist defeat is inevitable, but a PP victory is not. This could well be the reason Zapatero warned the young female Chacón to stand down; so that she may live to fight another day.

The election will be fought in two directions. The Socialists will use their one and only asset, Rubalcaba, who is personally more popular than Rajoy and will try to personalise the election as such. Rajoy will try to focus on presenting two brands, his PP versus the damaged PSOE.

Regardless of the election result, it is to the benefit of the PSOE that Rubalcaba is where he is. As a long-standing, popular and respected Socialist within his party, he is a stark contrast to the previously unknown Zapatero, and his political weight will be able to hold his party together. His credibility within the party and with the public is enhanced by the fact that he did not support Zapatero for the leadership, and was not one of his entourage. Rajoy, even with the wind is blowing in his direction, needs to be wary of his dagger wielding colleagues.

The President of the Government of Spain, aka Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero today announced that Spain would hold the legislative elections on November 20th.These elections were originally going to take place in March 2012.

The Socialist (PSOE) candidate is Alfredo Rubalcaba (left) and Conservative (PP) candidate is Mariano Rajoy.

I’m going to write more analysis of both of them in the next few days with comments on the elections. However I will say that they have both been in politics and government for years. Rajoy has lead his party in Opposition for over a decade, and was a minister in the Aznar government before that. Rubalacaba has been involved in every socialist government since Gonzalez came to power in the early 80s.

Tomorrow and Tuesday I shall be in Barcelona to attend a conference of  the “Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats in the European Parliament” (Press Release here). I was invited to participate in a round table discussion on Euroscepticism. Below is the abstract of my proposal:

How can Social Democracy counter nationalism and Euroscepticism while strengthening the EU?

The term ‘Eurosceptic’ is typically given to people of any political background who possess and advocate a highly negative attitude towards the European Union. Euroscepticism is, consequently, a set of political convictions that defines itself as ‘against’ the EU.

The central theme of my idea is that Euroscepticism only gains purchase on people’s thinking in contexts where public understanding of the EU itself is either partial or inadequate. Certainly, without access to the relevant facts – historical, institutional and ideological – the public is likely to be easily persuaded by a Eurosceptical stance.

Accordingly, what Social Democrats must do to counter Euroscepticism is to fill in the blanks and define clearly what Europe is for – not just through explanations of how the Commission, Parliament and Council operate, but through, more importantly, the articulation of a vision for Europe. Eurosceptics will be unable to capitalise on generalisations if Social Democrats provide specifics.

Key questions that arise in this situation are: What is Europe for? Why does it exist today? After decades of peace, what is its relevance? Given its geopolitical situation after 1989, what should we expect from a united Europe? What is the difference between a Europe of the Left and a Europe of the Right? To counter Euroscepticism, Social Democrats must provide compelling answers to such questions, so as to project an idea of Europe that is more than just a common economic market and, least of all, a bureaucratic mystery.

Westmoreland looks to be an exiting 5-way split, with 9 candidates from 5 different parties hoping to win 2 seats.

The polling stations are open for the local B&NES elections today until 10pm. Most people who intend to vote will have made up their minds which candidates and parties they will favour. But there may be some of you who remain ‘undecided’, feeling unsure who to vote for.

So, what can we say to you that might influence your decision in our direction? Many things, we think, but two in particular.

First, while all our opponents represent worthy causes, to which we also subscribe –  to make Westmoreland a cleaner and happier area; to attend better to environmentally-specific matters; to address more effectively traffic flow problems in the ward; to manage the council’s budget efficiently – we are the only candidates who are standing for election on an explicit fairness and justice platform. That is to say, we want to be councillors in order to address local concerns in ways that privilege the less well off members of the ward, which means we would contest any cuts in council expenditure that threaten to diminish the quality of life of its most vulnerable residents.

And, second, if elected, we would work tirelessly within the area to help build a community whose members live together, freely, in a spirit of tolerance and respect. So, in addition to representing responsibly the ward’s interests at council meetings, we would create new opportunities within Westmoreland itself for its residents to lobby us about issues which concern them, beginning with holding regular public meetings and frequent surgeries and establishing a website to assist the exchange of views and foster debate about matters of common concern.

You’ll have two votes for two Councillors: Vote Labour
Vote David HALPIN
Vote Hadleigh ROBERTS

The big Yes to AV campaign rally in Bath this afternoon. I don’t think I need to add anything, except another angle:

Pics courtesy of my friend Les Skipper.

On Page 9 of issue 1286 of Private Eye (15-28 April 2011) I was surprised to see this little article!

Don’t be fooled by those that say the Spanish Government was a disaster.

Over at the El País newspaper, we have an excellent analysis of the 20 most important (and sometimes controversial) pieces of legislation that has been introduced by Zapatero as President of the Government of Spain since 2004.

Off you go!