17 december 2019 Something I try to understand already for a while is why so many immigrants want to reach the United Kingdom, even at the risk of their lives. Based on what I find in newspapers, I come to the conclusion that the immigrants are not interested in the sunny climate, the delicious food, […]
Monthly archives: December 2019
48. The End of the United Kingdom ?
14 december 2019 Now that Brexit will have been done, it is clear that the unity of the United Kingdom is under threat. That unity is not evident; it requires an explanation why it exists in the form that it does. I dare to believe, and indeed this is speculative, that the United Kingdom lasted […]
47. Green Deal
14 december 2019 Ursula von der leyen, the new President of the European Commission, presented the “Green Deal” to the European Parliament. The intention is to make “Europe” carbon/climate-neutral by 2050. On 12-13 December the Green Deal was discussed at the level of the European Commission which reached a “unanimous” decision (with an exception for […]
46. Dutch – Meertaligheid
10 december 2019 De Brusselse Minister van Meertaligheid heeft een beleidsnota in dat verband neergelegd. Die roept een aantal bedenkingen/vragen op. 1) Meertaligheid is een zeer ruime term en het risico zit er dik in dat de Minister overambitieus is. Hij lijkt er vanuit te gaan dat een goede Brusselaar zowel Frans, Nederlands als Engels […]
45. Two Currencies
10 december 2019 From now on we (= all citizens of the world) have to think in two currencies. One of them is the monetary currency, the other one is the CO2-emission. Every investment decision will have at least two dimensions, the monetary and the ecological one. Whether you are a believer or a negationist, […]
44. Book Review ; Jan-Werner Müller: What is populism ?
10 december 2019 In this small book, JWM proposes a definition which describes populism as a style of performing politics (and NOT as a set of political statements). For him populism is a way of performing politics in a democracy which claims to make the democracy stronger while in fact it erodes key elements of […]