Published in The Daily Mail (May 7th, 2012) So the French have got their wish: they have evicted the brash, egotistical and hyperactive President Bling-Bling from the Elysee […]
Europe / France
Plodding provincial who stands on brink of the presidency
Published in The Daily Mail (May 4th, 20120) He cut an unlikely figure as he stood in a corridor of the Bercy Omnisports Arena in Paris last Sunday, […]
Europe / France / Politics
When rulers are out of touch, voters fall for extremists’ snake-oil solutions
Published in The Daily Mail (April 24th, 2012) However you cut it, Sunday’s presidential election in France was a profoundly depressing result: not just for the French, but […]
Europe / France
Sarko is heading for the guillotine
Published in The Daily Mail (April 20th, 2012) The rally bore all the hallmarks of a president on a triumphant home run back to the Elysee Palace: the […]
Aid / Europe / European Union / Iceland
Iceland owes us billions. Why on earth is the EU giving millions of our money in aid?
Published in The Daily Mail (March 8th, 2012) For all its recent problems, Iceland remains a prosperous place. Visiting there a few months ago, I was struck by […]
Europe / Greece
Staring into the abyss
Published in the Daily Mail (February 18th, 2012) When Eleni Nikolaidou agreed to help a university research project, she was asked to plough through 6,000 newspapers from World […]
Europe / Russia
A new Russian Revolution?
Published in the Daily Mail (December 27th, 2011) Mikhail had not been on a demonstration before. But on Saturday the 46-year-old property salesman joined tens of thousands of […]
Europe / European Union / Germany
The little communist who grew up to be the world’s most powerful woman (with the future of capitalism in her hands)
Published in the Daily Mail (November 25th, 2011) Unlike so many modern politicians, Angela Merkel does not believe in placing her private life on public display. We know […]
Europe / Ireland
From paramilitary to president?
Published in the Daily Mail (October 24th, 2011) As the hotel ballroom filled up and the mood of excitement grew, a three-piece band played traditional Irish music. A […]
Europe / Iceland
Iceland brought in from the cold thanks to party of punks and pop stars
Published in The Observer (19th June, 2011) Grey clouds hang heavy in the skies as the scout troop marches into the cemetery, followed by a noisy brass band […]
Europe / Iceland
It is counter-productive to humiliate another nation
Published in The Independent (January 7th, 2010) Sitting amid the trawlers in Reykjavik harbour is a solitary gunboat, a reminder of what happened when Britain and Iceland last […]