The European Union has a common mission to extend, enhance and expand rights, not reduce them. We will never endorse their retroactive removal. The European parliament will reserve its right to reject any agreement that treats EU citizens, regardless of their nationality, less favourably than they are at present. This is a question of the […]
Brexit
Brexit Musings (II) – Whistle While You Work
Welcome to Brexit Musings – part II. Last week, the Brexit boys and girls stayed at home. 12th July Boris Johnson has an uncanny knack of coming out with great statements. Some time ago, in one of his more sober moments, he remarked My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances […]
Brexit Musings 1 : “I’ve Started, So I’ll Finish”
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, the Brexit negotiations are finally upon us. And this is where I get really busy because from now on, I’m going to follow what happens in Brussels very closely. Not surprising, because I’m one of those bargaining chips up for grabs – or, at least my UK qualification […]
Brexit And EU Nationals (II) – The UK’s Proposals
For over a year, Theresa May has prided herself in refusing to reassure EU nationals about the impact of Brexit on their personal lives, until the Brexit negotiations had started, and the EU had given similar reassurances concerning UK nationals in the EU. It must be said that she has kept to her word, and […]
Brexit And EU Nationals (I) – The European Council’s Proposals
The prospective deal that Theresa May offers EU citizens already living in the UK, is a minimalist view on an ideal world for EU nationals. Once again, she has failed to make a connection with ordinary people, this time with genuinely worried EU expats in the UK, and British expats living in the EU. Her […]
Article 50: “Je T’Aime, Moi Non Plus” (I Love You, Me Neither)
A year after the Brexit vote, the long negotiations between the UK and the EU have begun. Having been deeply saddened by the referendum result and the UK’s triggering of Article 50, I now ask myself if the UK has ever been a true EU member and has European ideals. It is now clear that […]
Why You Should All Vote For Jeremy Corbyn
Plato And Jeremy Corbyn: “Whose Idea Was This Anyway?” With the June election rapidly approaching, I’m going to dedicate a post to the current leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn. I know that my views don’t matter one iota, and, what’s more, I cannot even vote. Well, that should make you listen […]
Am I Dreaming, Or Is Turkey About To Leave The EU?
If I talked to you about a country that just had a dubiously run referendum, the result of which was so close, as to be invalid for such a huge constitutional change, you would probably be thinking of Turkey. If I then told you that the leader of this country will organise elections with the […]
Read All About It: “In The Media We Trust?”
The British Press: Responsible but not guilty? When the offices of the French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo were gruesomely attacked in January 2015, the world was shocked, and rightly so. The attack focused on the press, one of the most sacred institutions of our democracies. The terrorists also challenged something that most of us […]
Beyond The Pillars Of Hercules – The Gibraltar Conundrum
Together we stand, and together we wait And there was I, thinking that we were utterly alone in our battle as UK expats, to avoid being cast into oblivion by the forces of evil from both sides of the channel. It now appears that an entire dependency is about to suffer the same fate as […]