Concrete Achievements

Blog

  • Links from the week of 6 May 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 6 May 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 29 April 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Links from the week of 29 April 2019

    Articles, reports and other links I shared on Twitter this week.

  • Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in


    Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, specifically in the Salone del 500. I love the historical continuities and discontinuities of talking about that here.

    The room was first constructed under religious fanatic Savonarola, decorated by Leonardo to glorify the Florentine Republic then repainted by the Medici dukes when the palace became their principal residence after they destroyed the Republic.

    It feels like civic and local democracy, and some of those civic republican traditions, are a better starting point for the reconstruction of European democracy than the narrative of nation-states.

    Going back to David Runciman on @TPpodcast_ the other week, this feels like a day where the long-story, medium-story and short-story democracy are close together.

    It’s also positive (says this eternal optimist) that the conversations in the last two days have not been “we’re doomed” but “we’ve got to do things differently”. Yes. The momentum is building, but institutions like the EU, and organisations like ours, still aren’t ready.

    We need sustained action and support to grow skills and capacity, to open civic space, and to ensure that the offer to citizens isn’t just about the what Europe is going to do for them, but how Europe is going to do it. #sou2019

  • Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in


    Today I’m at a conference on 21st century democracy (#SoU2019) in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, specifically in the Salone del 500. I love the historical continuities and discontinuities of talking about that here.

    The room was first constructed under religious fanatic Savonarola, decorated by Leonardo to glorify the Florentine Republic then repainted by the Medici dukes when the palace became their principal residence after they destroyed the Republic.

    It feels like civic and local democracy, and some of those civic republican traditions, are a better starting point for the reconstruction of European democracy than the narrative of nation-states.

    Going back to David Runciman on @TPpodcast_ the other week, this feels like a day where the long-story, medium-story and short-story democracy are close together.

    It’s also positive (says this eternal optimist) that the conversations in the last two days have not been “we’re doomed” but “we’ve got to do things differently”. Yes. The momentum is building, but institutions like the EU, and organisations like ours, still aren’t ready.

    We need sustained action and support to grow skills and capacity, to open civic space, and to ensure that the offer to citizens isn’t just about the what Europe is going to do for them, but how Europe is going to do it. #sou2019

  • Personal view of #florencedebate before my battery finally dies.

    Personal view of #florencedebate before my battery finally dies. Much better than I expected. Genuine interaction and debate rather than position-taking (though obviously plenty of that too). Not sure how it came across down the lens but in person it was

    Engaging and interesting. Verhofstadt underperformed my expectations – too much inside baseball. Timmermans was clearly a class act but also careful about what he promised, which makes sense but made him seem flat compared to some of the grander visions.

    Weber overperformed my expectations and I left thinking for the first time he might do ok as President on a personal leadership level. Keller was good and passionate but sat back on Green core issues and counterattacked rather than playing outside her comfort zone.

    Timmermans was the winner for me, but I expected that and I am a pro-European progressive. I left wanting him more visionary rather than hedging and trimming, and thinking that Weber might have been a bit underrated, including by me.

    On the issues, carbon tax for EU spending was surprisingly popular, climate change is still not being taken seriously enough as a policy challenge across the board, democracy and rule of law were underplayed – but you’d expect me to say that.

    Thanks to @MESandbu @ftbrussels and @EuropeanUni, a good evening.

  • Personal view of #florencedebate before my battery finally dies.

    Personal view of #florencedebate before my battery finally dies. Much better than I expected. Genuine interaction and debate rather than position-taking (though obviously plenty of that too). Not sure how it came across down the lens but in person it was

    Engaging and interesting. Verhofstadt underperformed my expectations – too much inside baseball. Timmermans was clearly a class act but also careful about what he promised, which makes sense but made him seem flat compared to some of the grander visions.

    Weber overperformed my expectations and I left thinking for the first time he might do ok as President on a personal leadership level. Keller was good and passionate but sat back on Green core issues and counterattacked rather than playing outside her comfort zone.

    Timmermans was the winner for me, but I expected that and I am a pro-European progressive. I left wanting him more visionary rather than hedging and trimming, and thinking that Weber might have been a bit underrated, including by me.

    On the issues, carbon tax for EU spending was surprisingly popular, climate change is still not being taken seriously enough as a policy challenge across the board, democracy and rule of law were underplayed – but you’d expect me to say that.

    Thanks to @MESandbu @ftbrussels and @EuropeanUni, a good evening.

  • Moment of being impressed that all four candidates are debating fluently in their second


    Moment of being impressed that all four candidates are debating fluently in their second (or third or nth) language. Chapeau! #florencedebate

    That said it would almost be harder for a native English speaker to join them (I know this from my public speaking) because you have to work hard on *not* using colloquial phrases or complicated structures and metaphors.

    (I do not do well at that)

  • Moment of being impressed that all four candidates are debating fluently in their second


    Moment of being impressed that all four candidates are debating fluently in their second (or third or nth) language. Chapeau! #florencedebate

    That said it would almost be harder for a native English speaker to join them (I know this from my public speaking) because you have to work hard on *not* using colloquial phrases or complicated structures and metaphors.

    (I do not do well at that)