БЛОГЪР

A blogger whom I met at Th!nk About It works for Bulgarian national television, and asked me to comment on the Copenhagen summit. Here's the video. (Yes, I'm growing an evil goatee.)

Th!nk About It Grand Finale in Rotterdam

Yours truly in some background shots. :)

Still Unconvinced

The conclusion of the Th!nk About It project. Check out the video at the bottom, it's hilarious, a much better execution of stereotypes than that "Union of Subsidized Farmers" crap.

Comments on that page please.

FWIW I'm going to vote for IRL; I'm not a huge fan of anyone, but at least I can respect Tunne Kelam for bothering to hang out at Tartu's main footbridge at 9am on a Thursday, handing out free coffee to passersby. (The coffee is horrible, but I did score a rather cute EPP-ED bottle opener.)

The Lazy Person's Vote

New article on Th!nk About It - this time, with video!

Not particularly bothered if you vote or not, but I would appreciate it if you commented. Oh, and this is a video post. Be gentle - it's more or less my first experience in editing video.

Apathy is Not a Bug, It's a Feature

A lot more happy with this one. Hopefully it's worth reading, at least.

As usual, comments over there please.

New TAI post. Not my best work, but should count as an EP-themed entry for the month.

Who Wants the Euro?

Even in the worst case scenario, we will be far better off as part of an isolated, devalued, hyperinflated market of nearly half a billion consumers, than a clever and prudent loner.

My 3rd post on the Th!nk About It website. Go, read it, comment on it, and vote 5 stars on that one and my previous posts! And, you know, have a look at what the other people are writing as well. Some of them are quite good.

Who Needs the Euro?

Everyone knows Iceland went bankrupt, but let’s face it: Iceland is three hundred thousand people who can’t grow any bread. More worryingly, large countries - those that make up the backbone of the EU - very much can go bankrupt; in fact they have before, and it’s increasingly likely that they will again; and soon. What hope do the smaller member states have?

My new post on Th!nk About It. Click, read, comment, and vote it up! I'm trying to win an iPhone here!

Shakedown: Estonia

The Th!nk About It website is up, and so is my first post there. Go, check it out, post your comments over there.

Th!nk Again

Eurobloggers
Originally uploaded by Flasher T

Brussels itself is boring. Belgium has a fully lit motorway network, so the night-time scenery as you're landing is fantastic, but the city just feels uninspired. The hotel (with traces of grandeur, but a bit of a shithole these days) was in the vicinity of the train station, which is never good, but I stayed in the Termini region in Rome and that was far more interesting. The European Parliament building is, apparently, copyright under Belgian law - one is not allowed to reprint its likeness without paying the architect a licensee fee (and Tony Robinson, the spokesman for the Socialist group, claimed to have paid 400 Euro for the right to post on his blog a picture of the EP compound that he'd taken himself in 1983). I'd say the impression I got from the city was that the Belgians are sufficiently organized and orderly to keep it all running, but don't care enough to make it sparkle.

That sort of criticism cannot be levied on the conference itself, however. As sceptical as I am about the supposed power of the blogosphere - and even more so about the storyworthiness of the European Parliament - the gathered crowd made it an awesome experience. The organizers from the European Journalism Center were genuinely enthusiastic, and did a stupefying amount of work to bring together nearly 90 people from every member state in the EU. I now understand why people go to events such as PAX or SXSW: not necessarily for the cause and impact, but for the sheer buzz of being around so many interesting people. Some of these were bloggers, a lot were journalism students and various other activists who made an effort to get into the competition. It's difficult to describe the joy of being in a room full of individuals, where absolutely every person is guaranteed to be worth your time and attention; the ones I spent a bit more time talking to were downright fascinating.



The project will go public on Sunday, when the Th!nk About It website will begin to publish contributions. In the meantime you can check out the EJC's BloggingPortal, an aggregator of stuff on European politics with a far wider catchment area. Or you can click on the new badge in the sidebar.