It was quite amusing to read that some think tank or other has spent the last six months putting together a report that concludes that expats in Brussels don’t integrate. I once spent an evening in the company of a Flemish anti-capitalist who had the idea of giving the EU to another city. I think the words he used to describe the expats advances toward his neighborhood were, “crawling up the hill from Schuman”.

Seriously though, if you move somewhere because of a desire to live in that particular place, then it’s likely that you’ll try to integrate a bit, but moving somewhere because it is the place you have to be to do what you do, especially when what you do is international politics, is never going to encourage you to integrate. Brussels just happens to be where the EU is.

As an aside, this post may, or may not be the first in a series of ‘useless X of the week’ posts. It depends how much I can be bothered.

As a good leftie I was quite shocked to read about Barnet Council’s Ryanair-style of efficiency in the Guardian today. I’m sure I needn’t point out the fact that charging extra for premium services will do nothing for equality, which has been identified as one of the keys to a nice happy society. What struck me after reading a bit further was that the council’s leaders don’t seem to understand what the council is there for. Sure, don’t waste money in running the council, but remember that this isn’t the US; here we look after people if they fall on—or are born into—hard times. There shouldn’t be any need for private initiatives to step in and provide essential services.

Maybe people will wake up to the fact that just because Cameron sometimes rides a bike, holidays in Cornwall and presents a softer public image, it doesn’t mean the Tories are any less harsh at heart.

Just listening to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 which has a piece on geoengineering to tackle climate change, particularly that there is a report being produced into different technologies practicality. Now, if these technologies can work, then fantastic; go ahead and implement some of them.

The problem is, I don’t have enough faith in human nature. If people see that there is this wonder-technology which can pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, then why on earth are they going to be bothered to reduce emissions of it in the first place? As ever, the challenge of communicating the need for an array of solutions will probably be one of the harder things to do.

This article on the BBC News web-site about a Dutch girl who wants to skip school to sail around the world caught my attention this morning. It isn’t really much to do with politics, but it provoked an instant reaction in my mind, so it must be good blogging material.

Surely, if she’s capable of looking after herself and there is good back-up support for if things should go wrong, then the amount she will learn from the experience of a round the world voyage will outweigh what she loses from missing school? Just think how much it will teach her of looking after herself and of skills such as navigation.

The Dutch do seem to be a little freer with bringing up their children than we are in Britain (I saw two young boys, about 7 or so, rowing along a canal the other day; alone, no parents in sight), but as long as she is well supported on the trip, it sounds like a fantastic idea!

Nothing is for definite, but I think I might be participating in World Have Your Say on the BBC World Service this evening, discussing Libya’s welcome of Al-Megrahi after his compassionate release. It airs at 19h00 BST (20h00 CEST). I don’t really know what to expect, but I know what I think.

Link to play BBC World Service live online.

I’ve just noticed that this blog had it’s first birthday on the 13th. I didn’t really know where this would go when I started it; in fact I mainly started it for an excuse to play around with CSS3. Anyone who began reading this after October last year probably hasn’t the faintest clue where the name comes from—the blog started out as a weekly briefing, though the effort of compiling that soon put a stop to it—but I like it, and it’s distinctive. It’s quite rewarding to keep this blog as well: I’ve had 1,607 visits from 56 countries since I started (I realise this is quite low traffic, but I’m not expecting much from this poorly kept hobby!), written 140 posts, and managed two election night live-blogs. I don’t have any plans to stop, so lets see if it can become as long-lived as my other blog which is now approaching its fourth birthday.

I’ve been sort of half following the furore over the compassionate release of Al-Megrahi, and it seems that the Scottish Justice Secretary has taken a break from his war on anything a little bit fun to do something right. It’s a sign of a society that has the right moral principles that we are able to resist the urge to punish harshly and let emotions rule decisions of this type. It is our compassion that makes us infinitely better than those who seek to use violence to change things.

It does seem a tad pointless though that Parliament is being recalled. We’re only about a week away from the return to session anyway, and while Parliament should certainly have the chance to discuss the matter, frankly what difference will it make? Al-Megrahi has already left.

Seeing as I haven’t written anything here for a rather long time, I thought I’d pop up this quick post. I haven’t totally given up on the Thursday Briefing, but I’m in the process of emigrating right now, so consider this blog to be on recess until I’ve managed to get settled into my shiny new Dutch apartment sometime next week. I’m sure I’ll find plenty to write about, especially once the parliamentary recesses are over at the start of September.