I have a happy confession to make. My opinions are still shifting. “Happy”? Well, everyone knows that only idiots don’t change their minds.  ►  more

What example might the precedent of Kosovan independence set in Bosnia, in the Caucasus, in Cyprus, in Spain – in Belgium, even? Is it a good idea to encourage these various simmering national grievances? Is statehood really the inevitable destiny of every single nation?  ►  more

Bosnia is in the middle of Europe but you wouldn’t know it. The wilderness landscapes are stunning, and the little towns we pass seem oddly foreign – blighted by ad hoardings, Wild-West-style, none of which are for familiar brands. There are minarets everywhere. 1 in 10 of the cars on the road are foreign, but it doesn’t look like tourists.  ►  more

Computers have got a bit smaller than people imagined, and teleportation hasn’t been invented yet. But TVs are now at last hung on walls, and the zero-emission car is surely not far off.  ►  more

“Le journalisme citoyen va-t-il remplacer les médias traditionnels? Enjeux et prédictions.” That’s the title of my recently-completed masters thesis. It’s an analysis of collaborative online journalism – from Slashdot to Digg by way of wikis and the blogosphere.  ►  more

I met someone recently who had never heard of Linux. And a second who hadn’t come across Wikipedia. Wiki-what? Nope, no idea. The experience got me thinking. Were they troglodytes, or am I a geek?  ►  more

Every free-kick and corner won is greeted by mad applause and chants of “Zi-zou!” and “Ri-bé-ry!”.  ►  more

You may have gathered that France is going through a difficult patch right now. To the dogs, even. Well don’t believe it – it’s rubbish.  ►  more

Pigeons are the only animals that most of us see every day, so it seems strange to me that no one knows the first thing about them.  ►  more

As ever, it is so much easier to say “no” and to condemn than it is to be in favour of something – especially something flawed like this Constitution.  ►  more

America is the world’s original popular democracy. It is therefore – despite its unpleasant, violent edge – about as unthreatening as an empire will ever be.  ►  more

In Ljubljana I set myself the challenge of going three days without hearing another native English-speaker. This is tricky anywhere nowadays, but I calculated that in rural Hungary I would have as much chance as anywhere – and so far I have indeed heard none. But listening to the passers-by in Pécs I begin to wonder: does Hungarian sound like English?  ►  more

The three ‘republican values’ are all revered in France. Every French person knows which country it was that invented the culture of rights – to ‘liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression’, specifically, according to the 1789 Déclaration des droits de l’homme. 215 years of law-making later and the values of the French revolution are more deeply embedded in French culture than ever.  ►  more

The news is that I’m still here! I miss you all though. In an ideal world I would have come back for a bit during the summer. In the real world I’ve just been too broke to contemplate airfares and Eurostar. And besides, the summer here was much better!  ►  more

It’s springtime in Paris. Winter here lasted about 6 weeks, which is as long as Parisians can go without pavement cafes. The tables are all out on the street again, locals sitting braced against the March chill drinking their expressos and pretending to be in Italy.  ►  more

So the USA is about to attack Iraq. It’s blatant imperialist aggression, blood for oil, the end of the United Nations, etc etc.  ►  more