Excellent advice for wannabe journalists

What a time to be alive

“Every day, the US is alienating potential visitors, investors, and researchers. Every day, Russia is murdering innocent people in a bloody and pointless colonial war. And every day, Europe offers proof that ancient rivals can live alongside one another in peace, while they pursue prosperity.”

Germany's electricity mix, 2000 vs 2025: Renewables: 6% → 62% Fossil fuels: 62% → 36% Nuclear: 30% → 0% Nuclear's exit was filled by renewables, not coal or gas. Want more of this content and more detail and links to sources? Subscribe to my new Substack: substack.com/@janrosenow

Journalists face intimidation and violence worldwide, warns European Parliament. The €20,000 Daphne Caruana Galizia prize aims to reward reporting defending EU values and democracy's fragile foundations.

80 years to the month after Orwell published ‘Politics and the English Language,’ his 6 rules for writing clearly and concisely are as relevant as ever, I argue: cleareurope.eu/improve-writ...

“Mayors should not think they are just there to manage the little things of everyday life, but have big ideas…To succeed, you have to have a strategy, be determined and, yes, accept being unpopular.” Wish we had more politicians who thought like Anne Hidalgo. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

As with wind turbines and solar panels, so with EV cars, Europe had first-mover advantage on the technologies of the future. Then it sabotaged its own efforts www.theguardian.com/business/202...

“The British public continues to support climate action, and politicians risk fighting the wrong battle if they assume otherwise. The real danger is not public opinion – it is elite division and media narratives creating a false sense of risk.”

All Europeans will pay the price for their leaders' reaction to the 🇺🇸🇮🇱 attack on Iran this weekend. European leaders (all except Pedro Sanchez) have now accepted the end of international law. The consequences of this will be felt not for weeks, not for years, but for decades

So to recap: if you're a MAGA American official you have the free speech right to say whatever you want and meddle into other countries politics. But if you're not a MAGA American, then you have no free speech right to criticise the United States or Trump. The hypocrisy is farcical.

My piece in The Guardian this morning: Europe’s path to technological independence from the U.S. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A sad trend with profound social and political effects: the mass closure of pubs in UK and cafes in France. Both cornerstones of communities, especially in small towns and villages.

A continent divided into many states with different languages, histories & religions - overcoming their differences and uniting into one federation. A pipe dream for Europe? No. It's the modern reality of India. And it shows it can be done. My piece on 🇪🇺🇮🇳:

Almost my entire Bluesky timeline is people commenting on Trump’s every dumb word or act. Every day. All the time. Which is entirely understandable but also completely pointless. And one of the many reasons I don’t waste my precious time on earth here like I used to on X.

It’s surely relevant that the US has never been invaded in its homeland, while west Europeans have seen their towns reduced to rubble by invaders within current lifetimes. Americans don’t seem to see that for Europeans, border disputes aren’t a funny distraction; they’re a matter of life and death

“Appeasement does not restrain Trump. Nor does acquiescence preserve stability. It simply confirms that coercion works.” Time for Europe to grow up and grow some. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A quick reminder that a lot of people find this time of year very difficult - and even people who seem fine can be really struggling to stay afloat. If you think you know someone like this, call! send them a message! send a stupid gif or meme! It’ll take you 20 seconds & could literally save a life

Kaja Kallas: we have to be really clear-eyed. We have one aggressor and one victim. And the one that needs security guarantees is Ukraine, not Russia. In last 100 years, Russia has attacked at least 19 countries, some as many as three or four times. None of those countries has ever attacked Russia

It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵

“A world where China and the US both wish to eat the EU’s economic lunch, and Russia harbours darker designs to the east, is no place for a romantic view of multilateralism..Europeans deserve far better than a continent made fit for Elon Musk.Time to fight back.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If European Digital Sovereignty is to mean anything, it ought to mean NOT posting on a platform owned and run by a fascist intent on undermining the EU! And don't give me the bullshit you have to be there for "balance" or "reach" - the rules are stacked against you from the outset

This book could not be more timely on the day Trump has been named the most influential person in Europe by Politico. And there is nobody who writes with more vim and verve about America’s domination of Europe than @davekeating.substack.com. I’m ordering my copy now.

Article 5 is now not just dead, but three times cremated and then buried at sea

From R. Crumb's satirical "City of the Future" in Zap Comix (1968)

“Europe is losing confidence, sinking into fatalism and justifying its passivity with the soothing thought that it has no real choice, as its cards are weak.” Excellebt op-ed by @sbeverts.bsky.social www.politico.eu/article/euro...

This chart (which applies even more to social media than it did to TV) lives in my head rent free. Social media enveloping traditional media means everything and everyone is now competing in the entertainment market. Boring stuff like policy that affects millions of lives doesn’t stand a chance.

Hundreds of thousands of people, dead because of a decision made by the world's richest man

“The project is described as a prime example of 'belgo-belge' politics, where regional-federal tensions, party rivalries and symbolic posturing have overtaken practical problem-solving.” www.brusselstimes.com/1829144/schu...

In short, the ANES data shows: 📉 Social media use is shrinking 💥 Twitter/X posting has moved ~50 points to the right 🧩 Platforms are splintering 🔊 Fewer people are talking — but those still talking are more politically extreme

Great reporting from my parents’ hometown of Caerphilly - where the leftist nationalist party Plaid Cymru saw off a threat from Farage’s far-right Reform party in a bitter by-election.

The Netherlands has issues but is an extraordinarily successful society - rich, safe, healthy and beautiful, with outstanding public services. Unfortunately a lot of people take this for granted, and believe politicians who claim to be patriots while claiming everything is terrible

It is wild that the 🇺🇸 Vice President is calling senior Republican staffers, men in their 30s, "young boys" in order to excuse their leaked racist, sexist and Hitler-praising text messages. open.substack.com/pub/jill/p/t...

POLITICO prediction vs reality.

Christ this is grim, seeing it laid out this way. The far right is now the most popular party in the UK, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Poland… Unprecedented

"We took the freedom of speech away," says the president

The EU: big on the small things, small on the big.

‘The Brussels bubble has found its voice. Unfortunately, it’s ChatGPT’s’. Brilliant, amusing, rant against AI slop in EU circles where dull, samey writing was already a problem.

Incredible insider account of Trump’s ignorance and petulance. But also of how effective his temper tantrums and bullying taxtics are. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

It’s refreshing to hear someone - Zach Polanski, new leader of the UK Green Party - actually making the case for migration as a good thing. Not a view you hear very often at the moment, even from those ostensibly on the centre left www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

exactly like the Chinese surveillance state

Further proof that Britain’s far-right Reform Party is full of Putin puppets.

“Trump and Putin – like-minded, amoral, authoritarian apex predators – are working together, or at least in parallel, to undercut European democracy, security, prosperity and progressive values. It looks like a concerted pincer movement. It feels like 1939.” www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is the real threat to free speech.

Question to the room: which social channels do you use for EU-related communications? X: Almost no one raises hand. BlueSky or Mastodon: Almost no one. LinkedIn: Almost everyone. #EUinfluencer

I KNEW IT!! it’s official, Dutch only makes sense if you’re drunk