Unfortunately the ray of hope about the Overseas Voters Bill has been extinguished. The second reading of the Bill, last Friday morning provided a lively debate – even though MPs strayed in their debating to issues of electoral reform within the UK, rather than sticking strictly to the subject of Overseas Voter registration. Continue reading “A ray of (C)hope – Part 2 – The Overseas Voters Bill comes off the rails”
Month: February 2016
Metropole on the Brexit
Metropole – the monthly English language magazine for Vienna also runs a blog, and today’s post “Until the Brexit do us Part” featured a couple of my comments to them. There are a number of interesting perspectives – including a fair few from translators – some of whom have a slightly “devil-may-care” approach to paying into pension systems either here in Austria or in the UK.
Continue reading “Metropole on the Brexit”
What things could look like if “No” win.
An article in the Independent imagines what it could be like, if despite opinion polls were suggesting that the UK would vote to stay in, the result turned out to be in fact in favour of a Brexit. Continue reading “What things could look like if “No” win.”
A ray of (C)hope
Today there is a Private Members Bill before the House of Commons, in its second reading, tabled by the Rt. Hon. Christopher Chope (Conservative MP for Christchurch and a fellow St Andrews graduate). Continue reading “A ray of (C)hope”
A letter of note from another UK expat
In response to my post on Vienna Expats’ facebook page about the the 2nd reading of the Private Members Bill on allowing all UK citizens in the EU to vote, regardless of how long they have been outside the UK, there was a comment from another Brit in Vienna, Christian Cummins, with a link to a letter he had submitted to the Guardian – it is worth a read. Continue reading “A letter of note from another UK expat”
One wanted to stand on the desk and cheer…
I remember my previous boss once telling me that he had worked with Bernard Connolly at the European Commission in the early 1990s – prior to Connolly’s departure from the Commission under a cloud in the wake of his book “The Rotten Heart of Europe”, which savaged the common currency. The book, written in 1995 was re-released a couple of years ago with new material to extend to the financial crisis. Continue reading “One wanted to stand on the desk and cheer…”
Guardian List of MPs’ stances
After the Spectator list about who is in the In camp, who wants the UK to leave, and who is undecided in the Conservative party, the Guardian has a list about all 650 MPs, which it is updating regularly. Continue reading “Guardian List of MPs’ stances”
Why I’ll not be turning Austrian in a hurry
My Facebook post mentioning that my blog was up and running elicited a question about the possibility of dual nationality. Unfortunately it is not that simple.
Continue reading “Why I’ll not be turning Austrian in a hurry”
Trying to establish my MP’s stance on the referendum
Rebecca Pow is the sitting MP for Taunton Deane, the constituency I last voted in, having succeeded the retiring LibDem MP at the last election. She is currently undecided according to the Spectator list, but her track record on EU integration votes suggest she is against further EU integration.
Her voting record on “they work for you” shows she seems to stick closely to a party line. Of further interest was her comment about not allowing 16 and 17 year olds the right to vote (18 June 2015).
How did the Austrian press view the announcement of the referendum date?
I tried to gauge the Austrian opinion from some of the quality papers also with a particular slant on looking at what their readers comments say. Readers who speak German might like to bookmark Der Standard (www.derstandard.at) – its stories seem to generate the most comments, albeit also with the highest number of trolls. Apparently Austria wants Britain to stay in the EU, although some forum trolls might suggest otherwise (they might need to get out of their cellars a bit more often…). Continue reading “How did the Austrian press view the announcement of the referendum date?”