Archive
Year: 2008
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Mirror, mirror on the wall…
March 25, 2008
It seems serial blogger Richard Corbett is locked in online battle with the evil forces of the anti-European movement over his reluctance to allow comments on his own blog. The dirty scoundrels have gone and created a mirror blog that is exactly the same as Richard's blog with the sole exception that the spoof allows one to add comments. And yes, those comments have been rolling in from anti-Europeans in the UK in great numbers...
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Tibet, Tibet.
March 21, 2008
The question of an independent Tibet is by no means a new one. As the Free Tibet movement has stumbled wilfully on over the years, the media spotlight has been focused back onto this high, arid and culturally unique (dare I say?) country. Recent events in the region have been covered closely and have sparked new interest on the situation, channelled particularly well using the freedom that internet-based social media allows. Freedom, of course, is a...
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How do you get a million readers for a trade association blog? Ask the Beltway Blogfather…
March 21, 2008
We've returned to the Old Continent this morning after an eventful couple of weeks elsewhere in the world (hence lack of posts); the last few days of which have been spent in Washington D.C. at our annual Global Public Affairs Practice meeting. The gathering, held this year in the second most famous hotel in the US capital, saw a great panel debate on the US presidential elections from some well-known D.C. insiders as well as...
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Liechtenstein Case Pushes EU on Tax Evasion
March 11, 2008
Europe’s tax havens are feeling nervous, now that national tax authorities are in the market for stolen data. The Germans paid €5 million for a disk detailing trust accounts which had been lifted six years ago from Lichtenstein’s LGT bank. Former head of Deutsche Post Klaus Zumwinkel is having to pay the price (about €1 million according to some reports), as no doubt will many other wealthy Germans. The British Revenue has paid £100,000 to...
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Use of blogs by Brussels trade associations triples!
March 4, 2008
An interesting survey from the folks at Euractiv on the use of the internet by European trade associations was released late last week. While we weren't present at the launch event, we are happy to note that FH was represented at least in spirit by Sylvain Lhote (who spent 8 years with us before moving to plastics company Borealis). As with all these things, the survey's sponsors have sought as far as possible to draw...
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From one seat to one president – a new digital dawn in Brussels?
March 3, 2008
Hats off to Brussels bloggers Jon Worth and Jan Seifert as they embark on a new Brussels digital campaign called "Who do I call?". Their aim is simple. They think that the Commission President and newly created President of the European Council should be the one and same person. While we still remain to be convinced about the merits of the case, we do admire the team's online efforts. (Admittedly as some of us have yet...
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Bombing for dummies on Facebook, Gaza limited edition
March 3, 2008
Shai and Batya Mesisenberg from Petah Tikva are the founders of one of the groups which support the city of Sderot, in the Gaza Strip. Sderot is daily bombed by Qassam rockets from Hamas and assists to the massive Israeli army's raids. Weary by the non-intervention of their politicians, Shai and Batya decided to show on their group, with the involuntary help of the NASA, how to make rockets*. Instructions are available through a link...
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And then there were six…
February 29, 2008
It seems only fair that we mention the launch of the blog of Andris Piebalgs, Commissioner for Energy, today. He joins Dimas, Potocnik, Wallstrom, Spidla and Fischer Boel as Commissioners that are seeking to reach out to "internauts"(Euro-speak or just French in an English press release?). With all the good material on energy policy out there, perhaps this Commissioner will have something interesting to say. As one post every Friday is all that is promised...
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Stubb invites open season on toys
February 29, 2008
Alex Stubb MEP's post of yesterday invites blog readers to comment on his initial thoughts on the newly proposed revision of the toys safety directive. Will any industry actors take the challenge on this most engaging of issues? Three challenges for industry actors spring to mind: 1) Who will take responsibility for posting the comments? The audience, an MEP, is clearly a government relations one. Yet the channel (online) is often under the remit of...
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Ask silly questions in Brussels, get silly answers
February 26, 2008
An interesting article in this week's Economist Charlemagne column on moves to increase the use of the public opinion polling comes to the opposite conclusion of our own thoughts on the same matter last year (when the move was mentioned in a Wallstrom communication). Perhaps journalists are more cynical than the bright eyed bushy tailed consultants round these parts? Or maybe we got misty eyed about the public affairs opportunities it could present , rather...