Links 09-03-2010

Charlie Beckett on which media will matter in the 2010 General Election

But here’s the headline news for election 2010: Mainstream Media is Back.

As a political sciences graduate, with a terrorism studies postgrad student in the house, I found Dave Wearing’s article on political sciences quite interesting. Should it even have the word science in it – the debate re-ignites…

I have yet to be convinced by the idea that the study of politics can be apolitical and value-neutral. Our choice of research topics will inevitably reflect our own political and moral priorities, and the way in which that research is framed and conducted is bound to reflect assumptions which – whether held consciously, semi-consciously or unconsciously – remain of a moral and political nature.

Charlemagne  – one of the best blogs on European issues, even if I don’t always agree with him – gets to grip with Greece

EMPATHY is always in short supply in recessions, even within the European Union where we are all supposed to understand each other instinctively. But really, the cross-border debate on Greece is depressingly simplistic.

Will Hutton talks some sense on the position of the VP/HR.

Ashton’s problem is not her power, but her lack of it. Before the meeting in Córdoba, she badly needed the letter David Miliband and Swedish foreign secretary Carl Bildt co-wrote saying that EU foreign ministers should get behind her. The world, and EU member states, needed more of the European Union, not less.

Charlie Brooker takes on the leaders’ debates:

if Nick Clegg spends the first 50 minutes rousing the audience with his fiery, lyrical rhetoric – as per usual – only to sneeze unexpectedly five minutes before the end, leaving a giant pendulum of mucus dangling off the end of his conk, the unfortunate mishap would be looped and repeated ad nauseam on every rolling news bulletin for weeks to come. He’d be Mr Snot. And do you want to vote for Mr Snot? No way. What if he sneezed on the nuclear button?

Relight my fire

If you hear/read somewhere that the EU is contemplating a ban on barbecues, please don’t believe it. The Commission is not planning a ban on barbecues, we’re not going to propose bringing them within carbon emissions trading, and we’re not suggesting Member States instigate a barbecue tax. If an individual member state wanted to, that would be a national issue, but the EU doesn’t have that power.

The Commission is also not banning using the term watts for lightbulbs. Lightbulbs are already supposed to carry the lighting performance of the bulb, which is measures in lumens. This makes it easier to compare different types of bulbs, as of course the wattage only refers to the power needed to make the light shine, and doesn’t help comparison across the range of bulbs that now exist. From 2010 the lumens value will be displayed more prominently than the wattage value, but the watts will continue to be compulsory. This is to allow people to compare bulbs on the basis of performance, and is a measure that was approved by all the governments, and consumer organisations.

Interesting article by Will Hutton in the Observer at the weekend. The expenses issue has kicked all other political issues into the long grass, but I wonder how much of a campaign we’d have seen even if that issue hadn’t been around.