Reading Time: 3 minutes We have just been traversing a terrifying jungle ridden with dangers and now come face to face with an unexpected creature who is just waiting to finish us off. He answers to the name, Mister Johnson. Is it just possible that Mister Johnson represents the missing link between the rational and the irrational? Or am […]
European ideals
A Day At The Beach In The Name Of Freedom
Reading Time: 4 minutes Frail men in their late nineties gazed into the Normandy sky at what may have been. A grateful president saluted them with the respect that underscores the grandeur of their courage. Fifteen thousand people listened to the wise words of a world leader who is too young to have known the calamities of war and […]
Citizens In Distress – The Mental Strain Of A No-Deal Brexit
Reading Time: 6 minutes If we reflect on the situation of EU citizens in the UK and British citizens in the EU-27, nothing has really changed since the referendum vote three years ago. Although an agreement concerning our fate was reached in December 2017, it very much depends on the whole withdrawal deal being accepted by Westminster. This is […]
European Parliament – 50 Shades Of Green
Reading Time: 3 minutes If the newly elected Green MEP’s can convince the others to bike it between Brussels and Strasbourg, voting Green will not have been a waste of time. Not that I voted Green, of course. Shame on me. Has my subscription to an electronic version of Nature Climate Change (no dead trees for me) tought me […]
Bye-Bye Mrs May And Take Your Brexit With You!
Reading Time: 5 minutes Theresa May has finally realised that nobody actually likes her and many more even hate her – as a politician, that is, not as a person. I am not to judge what sort of person she is. If I’m honest, there’s a part of me that feels sorry for Mrs M. She reminds me of […]
“Arcade” – Netherlands: Twelve Points / Pays-Bas: Douze Points
Reading Time: 2 minutes Arcade is a story about the search for the love of your life. It is the hope for the – sometimes – unattainable. – Duncan Laurence Love has always been for me the greatest of affairs, or rather, the only one. – Stendhal What can I say when France gives the Netherlands […]
Film Review: “Son Of Saul” – A Vision Of Hell
Reading Time: 3 minutes Film Title: Son of Saul (2015) Director: László Nemes May 4th is a national remembrance day in the Netherlands. The entire country pays its respect to those who died in WWII and more recent conflicts, all in the name of freedom. Supermarkets close at 7.00 pm and, an hour later, a two-minute silence is observed. […]
Brexit Musings (42) – London And Brussels Get Their Wires Crossed Over A Faulty Extension
Reading Time: 4 minutes The original extension Can someone help me with understanding the extension? I thought that I was quite knowledgeable about Brexit, having been upset, angry and frustrated for two weeks after the referendum that I couldn’t vote in, having worried for 18 months about the continuing validity of my qualification, having been forced to spend money […]
Brexit Musings (43): What Mugs We Are!
Reading Time: 3 minutes How I miss the British sense of humour, being able to joke around and make fun of everybody – including “yours truly,” of course. I would really like to thank the Facebook user who posted this video because it really made my day and got my series “Brexit Musings,” up and running […]
2016 And All That: The Rise And Fall Of “Homo brexitus”
Reading Time: 7 minutes In 2016, the UK witnessed the appearance of a new “species” of citizen – Homo brexitus. I certainly do not use this description in a pejorative way. It’s just a term that I found useful – before the Guardian did – to describe the citizens of my motherland who “fell out of love” with the […]