Category: Featured

David Haworth, in Brussels

With the return to power in Rome of Silvio Berlusconi, Noisy Politics will also make a reappearance in the corridors of European Union power. The age of celebrity is such that it’s easy to overlook the possibility of a modest, exemplary life of achievement in what is often reviled as a “grubby trade”.

By Paul Cochrane, Beirut

How the Lebanese view international institutions and the world at large depends on sectarian and political allegiances. With Lebanon a microcosm of the macro political-economic issues facing the Middle East today - due to the country’s geographical position bordering Israel and Syria, and the country’s political-sectarian divisions between Sunnis, Shias, Druze and Christians - Lebanon is where the powers that be flex their muscles.

By Alan Osborn, Strasbourg

THE EUROPEAN Parliament turned 50 years old this March. There will be no celebration of the event in Britain and probably not much in other European Union (EU) member countries. Most people know of the parliament only as the source of scandals like fiddling expenses or the provision of lavish wining and dining for its members. An American TV company once introduced a profile of the parliament by saying "So you think Europe doesn't have boondoggles? Boy, have we got news for you!"