Category: Europe
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Democracy and other duds
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2017.] At a time when the European Union appears to be slowly falling apart, its highest court was fixated on whether a woman at one workplace in Belgium should be allowed to wear material covering her head. As a staunch non-believer in religion, I…
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“The role of culture in Europe’s crisis.” (My translation.)
Below is my translation of *Marcelo Expósito’s contribution to the session on "Diplomazia Culturale dell’UE", as part of the meeting: “How Can We Govern Europe?” held at the Camera Dei Deputati, Rome, November 18, 2016. (*Marcelo Expósito is a Deputy for Barcelona from En Comú Podem and is the Third Secretary of the…
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Albania’s pain
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, November 2016.] When I was a curly-haired (and more ignorant) twelve year old in the Cold War years of the early 1980s, one day our History teacher asked the class a general knowledge question: “Who is the world’s longest-serving current dictator?” Nobody had the…
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Lessons from Paris
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, January 2016.] The recent tragic terrorist murders in Paris (and sadly also elsewhere) can teach us plenty. And if we choose to not learn all that we can from these tragedies then we are as good as inviting further bloodshed and horror. One of…
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Badly chosen words
[A version of this article (under the tittle "Carefully mischosen words") was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, November 2015.] I’m a huge fan of the UK’s public broadcaster, the BBC. It still produces some of the best TV anywhere in the world but one thing it does tests my affection for it. Even…
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Refugees in a strange land
[A version of this article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, October 2015.] Now even the Daily Mail’s editors have finally accepted that British Prime Minister David Cameron’s "swarms" of refugees need to be helped. The next question has become one of where Europe’s newest asylum seekers and victims of war…
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TTIPing us over the edge
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, June 2015.] While we are all going about our daily business this month, big business is going about trying to make sure that Europe is run purely in its interest. If agreed to by the European parliament, the new Free Trade Agreement between the…
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Germanwings, depression and blame
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2015.] The recent Germanwings airline tragedy has naturally been the focus for countless media stories. Many of us in Catalonia know people who were acquainted with victims and their families but there is another personal aspect to the crash that seems to provoke…
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Blue Black Friday
[A version of this article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, January 2015.] Just last month we witnessed the latest craze from the USA arrive here. Without doubt, the Black Friday sales will now be an annual event and will certainly grow in intensity each year. If anything accurately represents pure, raw…
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Sahara sands and other’s lands
[This article was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, May 2014.] Fine, red-brown dust covered every flat surface across Europe and the south of the UK just four weeks ago. If it was ever needed, it gave the strongest physical evidence that nature does not respect borders as well as telling our eyes, noses…
Brett Hetherington 