After a week cruising the sunny islands of madeira and the canaries, as well as a packed stop off in morocco, we spend new year, as we almost always do, in budapest, with my other half’s family. My eldest was on a quest to stay up all night, having been confounded last year when in an exception that proved the rule we stayed home and I pretty much made him and his friend give up the ghost at 4am when they woke me up. This year he had a bad night on the eve, an afternoon nap on the day, and woke up with a headache, so the two of us trekked a few blocks down to where we were…

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Whilst english politicians race towards the extreme of who can get the country out the european union quickest, the scots head the opposite way. Hence its government’s hostile reaction to the european commission president’s restatement that an independent scotland would have to apply to join the eu. To some, this shows the snp's political immaturity, as they are found out for not doing their homework. I’m not so sure. Yes, it is clear in the treaties that it is a union of defined member states, and if a new one comes along, from within or without, there is an established process they need to go through to join. And yes there is a precedent, of greenland leaving when it won…

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Sometimes the obscure is interesting, or so I’ll take just a few words to convince that this applies to one of my more important lesser priority issues: data sharing. The good folk at the guardian were convinced, so I can finally add them to my mild-mannered national me-dia appearances, alongside radio 4 (30 april 2012), channel 4 (12 april 2011), the economist and of course the budapest sun. Sharing information is one of those behind the scenes things, like water pipes in a house, that enable water to flow uphill, or in this case not really flow, as these days there are so many rules and regulations around different organisations sharing intelligence on people that even where there’s a will…

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It is more than a year and a half (16 april 2011) since we almost had the culmination of years of international consensus-building and the legal declaration, kosovo-style, of a nascient palestinian state. Browbeaten yet again, the west-bank-based palestinian authority pressed the pause button, to try and find a different way to restart serious negotiations as an alternative route to statehood. Yesterday, they finally followed through, with the un general assembly in new york enthusiasically welcoming the state of parastine into their ranks as a non-member observer state. Just nine countries of 193 voted against: the us, canada, panama and the czech republic being the only ones with a population of more than the london borough of camden. Netanyahu responded…

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Whilst being enormously relieved about the gaza ceasefire, and optimistic it will hold, I also think something happened we don’t yet know about. For hamas it was a clear victory. Reaching tel aviv and flaunting much-improved rocketry buoyed their reputation and won concessions easing the blockade; surely the first step to israel actually negotiating with hamas. For abbas and the palestinian authority, equally clear defeat, as they show themselves and their engage-israel strategy impotent. But what about israel ? Though the usual suspects rush to fill the pro-israel mass media vacuum, there was a distinct lack of israel’s own usual bravado. Rarely have I heard israeli spokespeople, least of all in the netanyahu era, sound so uncertain. And this with…

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It didn’t take long for the israel-palestine protagonists to test out obama 2.0. One side of the palestinian leadership was first, with “president” abbas making a measured effort to escape the dead-end parastine status quo by unfreezing their bid for recognition at the united nations (see 8 september 2011, 16 and 30 april 2011). America, not yet ready to move from observer to facilitator, said no. This sharpened global divisions (even the europeans are totally split) and gave the internal initiative, again, to the rejectionist camp led by a resurgent hamas, now further than ever from a once-imagineable shift to the peace camp (how we made the fatal mistake of not talking to hamas). Just as it did after obama’s…

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Sunday in london and monday in paris; always a pleasure. I am here to present and work a paper through one of the oecd committees, that uses 12 leading "middleweight" cities, of which manchester is of course one, to try and divine just what it is that generates economic growth and broader societal success. A well-evidenced and consistent strategy, implementation capacity and leadership are important elements, as are the disruptive je ne said quoi of the mobile and talented creative class that every city under the sun is trying to attract, but so very few really do. An interesting session, well launched by greg clark and debra mountford, and they even asked lots of questions. A slightly oversold cocktail reception…

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I like clever, opinionated and out-of-step politicians (see 18 june 2011), and michael heseltine, about to turn 80 and finally walk into the sunset, falls into that category, as this remarkable broadcast shows. This week came his swan song, a massive report that leaves “no stone unturned” in its search for economic growth, the defining political question of the day. Though not unqualified, one of the report’s more interesting elements is localism, which after many months of speaking to many people (including me !), he seems to have become a champion of. He talks about “reversing a century of centralisation” and bemoans how the UK has “disempowered local government by centralising power and funding”. These are familiar themes to…

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Some may find this connection odious, but I do see an echo of the awful case of 14-year old schoolgirl malala yousafzai being shot in pakistan, and barry thew, sentenced last week to 4 months in jail for wearing a t-shirt revelling in the deaths of 2 manchester police. Where the taliban justice system summarily shoots a minor, the british puts an adult in jail after due process of law, so there’s much to distinguish there. However, the basic alleged crime is the same: one person causing gross offence to another by expressing their views. There have been many cases of this acutely difficult issue of my right to free speech against yours not to be grossly offended, including azhar…

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