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Who's afraid of swine flu?

Thursday, March 11, 2010
The Irish, apparently, as according to a eurobarometer poll on all things H1N1, some 68% are very or somewhat concerned that it 'may develop into a serious risk in my country'. 

Hidden in their alpine fastnesses, the Austrians and the Swiss are the most blasé, with 73% not concerned.  We err on the side of panic, with 55% concerned, compared to an EU average of 41%.  Elsewhere, some 16% of Maltese think it 'very likely' they will catch it.

It would appear that we are a trusting bunch, as 80% of us trust the Ministry of Health (or whatever it is called this week) to tell us the truth about H1N1.  Latvians and Poles are a good deal more cynical, at 40% and 45% trust levels. 

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posted by Croydonian

Government in 'getting something right' shocker?

Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The European Agency for Safety and Health at work, of which I doubt many of us have heard, has polled the EU's citizenry on safety and health at work.  Nothing like sticking to one's knitting is there?

Anyway, the results are not especially interesting, but in an outbreak of credit where credit is due, it is only fair to note that 75% of Britons polled think that H&S at work has improved over the last five years.   Only the Danes and the Irish have higher satisfaction figures.

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posted by Croydonian

Interesting map o' the day

Thursday, September 24, 2009
Courtesy of Eurostat.



The map needs clicking for any degree of legibility, but I think it is worth it.

The highlights noted by Eurostat are these:

Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per inhabitant (in purchasing power standards) in 2006 differed widely across the 275 regions of the EU, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In Inner London (United Kingdom) it was 336% of the EU-27 average, while in Nord-Est (Romania) it was only 25% of the EU-27 average.

Elsewhere, the author notes 'We find the largest regional differences in the United Kingdom, where there is a factor of 4.3 between the highest and lowest values

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posted by Croydonian

Well they can't gull us....

Friday, November 30, 2007
The full June Eurobarometer is out, and while I will be doing something extensive with it in the fullness of time , this is just too good not to do now:

"For each of the following institutions, please tell me whether you tend to trust it or not to trust it:

The EU

And Perfidious Albion is the most distrusting, by far, with only 36% tending to trust it. The Belgians come top at 73%.

The European Commission

Last. 29%

The European Parliament

Last. 33%

The ECB

Last. 30%

Council of the EU.

Last. 23%

Television

Fifth from bottom. 51%

The Press

Last. 18%

The internet (cough..)

Second last - 32%. Spammers and scammers should switch from English to Czech - 62% of them are just crying out to be fleeced.

The national government

20th 34%. Least trusting of the EU 15.

Parliament

17th. 41%. Least trusting of the EU 15.

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posted by Croydonian

Trouble in the Balkans

Tuesday, March 06, 2007
The Greek army has been misbehaving, or rather some of its grunts have: "A tape, initially broadcast over the Internet at the end of last week and then re-aired on Albanian television, shows Greek soldiers chanting “We will make shoelaces out of Albanians’ guts” during what appears to be military exercises. The same soldiers are heard uttering similar abuse about the Turks". One would think that Macedonia must feel a little peeved to be left out, especially as Athens still persists with its ridiculous 'Former Yugloslav Republic of Macedonia' usage.

However, the Greeks have apologised, although there has been flag burning etc across the border. Rather missing the point about armies, an Albanian politician "called on Greece to take all the necessary measures to eradicate these expressions of aggressive nationalism from the Greek armed forces.”



Meanwhile, apologies for being AWOL - I should have remembered that oysters frequently disagree with me.

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posted by Croydonian

Which European democracy has a constititional ban on Jews, inter alia, running for the presidency?

Sunday, February 18, 2007
Bosnia-Herzegovina. And it is right there in the constitution: "The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of three Members: one Bosniac and one Croat, each directly elected from the territory of the Federation, and one Serb directly elected from the territory of the Republika Srpska". (Source).

This is not me being overly sensitive, as a lawsuit to the ECHR is being mounted by Jakob Finci, a representative of Sarajevo Jewry. (The Post calls him 'the community leader', but I doubt he gained his office from a vote). The response from an unnamed Bosnian official is quite the smear: "However, the case of Mr. Finci is special. Finci is the director of the state agency for employees in Sarajevo, and is using the issue for gain. You must keep in mind that Jews still have a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that there are other positions besides the presidency."

Note that Mr Finci is only asking for the right for non-Serbs, Croats and Bosnians to stand for office, not for it to be given to them. And these oh so sinister Jews with 'a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina' amount to circa 500 people, or 0.013 of the population. I have not been able to find estimated figures for other minorities beyond 0.6 for 'other', although I imagine that would largely be comprised of the other nationalities that made up the former Yuoslavia.

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posted by Croydonian

The Fourth Defenestration of Prague

Saturday, January 27, 2007
In a less than reported development in these parts, the Germans are still trying to bring the EU constitution back to life, despite the Dutch and French no votes which for a government of laws, and not one of men, would have killed it stone dead - at the crossroads, with garlic around its neck and a stake through its heart.

Perhaps unwisely Frau Merkel has had a go at coaxing the Czechs into a measure of support for it, but the famously straight-talking Vaclav Klaus ('The Third Way leads to the Third World') and his equally pugnacious Prime Minister are having none of it: "Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek insisted to reporters that "the document must be more understandable for people," and said the Czech Republic would not stand for a quick-fix solution at the cost of quality. Czech President Vaclav Klaus advocated "smaller steps" in the direction of a constitution, and said the current draft was still "kilometers" away from what the Czech Republic would accept".

Previously Topolanek has dismissed the constitution as 'a pile of crap'. In one of life's delightful outbreaks of symmetry, it was a pile of just that which broke the fall of the Imperial Governors defenestrated in 1618.


(PT - Sorry if I'm infringing your demarcation)

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posted by Croydonian

Slovenia and Croatia in minor border dispute

Tuesday, July 18, 2006


There's an item in the Herald Tribune on a rather silly border dispute that revolves around one house. The owner claims he is Slovenia, and flies a Slovenian flag to prove it, but Slovenia has an outline agreement for Croatia to have sovereignty over it.

Here's an extract: "Skillful at getting press attention and belonging to a party, the Slovenian People's Party, which is now a part of the national governing coalition, Joras has managed to keep the issue here in Secovlje (Slovenia) or Plovanija (Croatia) not only alive but also an irritant in bilateral relations, and possibly an obstacle to efforts being made by the two governments to resolve the larger border dispute.
"Every time this guy has a conflict with the Croatian police, it's the lead item on the television news," said Ali Zerdin, deputy editor of Slovenia's best- known weekly magazine, Mladina. "But basically it's a story about one house, and it's strange that Slovenian diplomacy is being held hostage to that one house."

I trust this can be resolved without force.....

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posted by Croydonian

Friday, July 14, 2006
Where to start?

Rather a lot going on today, with an awful lot of bloggable things to boot. Anyway, my opener for the day involves a note in the Telegraph on Cameron's Czech allies:

"The centre-Right party has only nine MEPs, compared with 26 British Conservative MEPs, but the Czechs are important because theirs is the only other substantial party in the European Parliament that is pro-free trade, is Eurosceptic, and is broadly pro-American".

I would not have thought that it was such an obscure position to hold, but apparently it is on the Continent. Meanwhile, all hail the splendid Czech nation and time for a reminder of Vaclav Klaus's wise words some years ago: "The Third Way leads to the Third World". Footnote to a footnote, Prague is the only major city in central Europe to have avoided major war damage in '38-45 because it was liberated not by the Russians, not by the US/Canada/us/ etc but rather by the Czechs themselves and the Russian Liberation Army, a force levied by the Germans and commanded by Vlasov that switched sides.

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posted by Croydonian