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Opinion
If the Dutch lived in Ireland, the saying goes, they could feed the world. And if the Irish lived in Holland, they’d drown in a week.It’s a funny quip that speaks to common perceptions — perceptions that after the events in both places this past week might need to be reviewed.Geert...
There’s a new word that is creeping into the political lexicon in the UK over these past months: Bregret.Just as Brexit was conjunctive shorthand for ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’ from the European Union, Bregret is similar, but refers instead to ‘Britain’ and &lsquo...
Most of us — and by that I mean people who live in the UK and the European Union — actually wear only 15 per cent of the clothes we possess.We have far more clothes hanging up in our wardrobe or stuffed into drawers that we never use. At this point, I’m tempted to tell my wife that...
August, in the newspaper business, has long been referred to by old ink-stained wretches and editors as “silly season”.Parliament has shut down, and so too county councils. Schools are out for the summer and many in business are on holidays — so “silly season” gets its ...
Just as Spain’s voters were about to head to the polls in a general election last week, I drove through much of the heartland of the Basque Country, a mountainous area that sits in the armpit between southwest France and a portion of the northern coast of Spain — a bit like the armpit th...
“Mucho calor”. That’s the most common expression you hear in Spain now. “It’s very hot.” And the reply is always, “Si, mucho calor”.It’s so hot now across much of the Iberian Peninsula that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London has taken ...
There are 18 months left in the natural lifespan of the current parliament at Westminster and for many Conservative Members of Parliament, that end can’t come soon enough.Such is the air of decay and an inevitability that their party, which has been in power in the United Kingdom for the past ...
When explorers of the New World returned across the Atlantic to Europe, the snow-capped mountains that shape much of the landscape of northern Spain was often the first glimpse of land for the seafarers. They christened these “los Picos de Europa” — the peaks of Europe.For centurie...
In the last few days, the killing of a 17-year-driver by police in a Parisian suburb has provided a spark. Several hundred people have been arrested in nights of rioting and protests following the incident in Nanterre, where the boy was fatally shot following a traffic stop.Tear gas, bin fires, bato...
On Thursday, the Bank of England raised the base interest rate by half a percentage point, adding to the woes of any consumer who has debt in the United Kingdom.While a raise was anticipated, the doubling of the expected hike came as something of a surprise to Downing Street — and certainly to...
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has finally made the decision to step away from his political career, at least for the time being. He resigned as Member of Parliament last week and rejected the conclusions of a parliamentary committee that accused him of knowingly misleading lawmakers re...
Is this how the dream of Scottish independence ends, not at the ballot box in a crushing once-in-a-generation defeat, but driven over a cliff in a luxury motorhome by the senior figures of the Scottish Nationalist Party.For the SNP, it wasn’t supposed to be this way. It was meant to be idealis...
In just under four months’ time, voters in two of Germany’s largest states will head to the polls in regional elections to elect new parliaments in Bavaria and Hesse. And as things stand right now, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is set to make significant inroads givin...
Back in his day — and that was some three centuries ago — Dr Samuel Johnson, a great thinker who came up with the very notion of ordering words in a dictionary, noted that “you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. Sir, when a man is tired of London, he ...
Was it Confucius, the ancient and wise Chinese philosopher, who offered the wish: ‘may you live in interesting times’. He must have had foreknowledge of current events and times in the United Kingdom when he opined those words. For yes, indeed, these are interesting times in the UK.Let&r...
On Tuesday in a European first, France formally banned domestic air travel on short routes where the journey can be covered by train in under two-and-a-half hours.It means that if you planned to travel from one of the airports surrounding Paris to, say Bordeaux, you simply won’t be able to. No...
I am at the stage in life where I would like to see some grandchildren. The nice thing about grandchildren is that you can hand them back at the end of the day and then your life can return to normal. But I think it would be nice to be able to spoil them.My three children range in age between 25 and...
In cities and town across the United Kingdom, football on Saturdays is a religion of sorts.At schoolboy level — and schoolgirl too, for the game is almost equally popular now with females — almost every village or community has games.And where there are semi- or fully professional teams,...
It’s a public holiday this coming Monday, May 8, in the United Kingdom, set aside to mark the coronation of King Charles III in London on Saturday.Public holidays mean more traffic on the UK’s already chaotic motorways and ‘A’ roads as drivers load up caravans, camper vans an...
It’s fair to suggest that most of us will have worked in offices or places of employment where we have encountered bullies.You’ll know the type. Big mouthed. Think they know it all. Chums one moment, ogres the next. Their management style will likely consist of favouring the few and brow...
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