Tag Archives: EU

Start preparing for the post-Brexit era!

The clock is ticking on the Brexit negotiations. In little over a year it will be there. So, it’s time to start preparing for the ways in which this will impact especially EU-citizens when traveling to the UK. Allow me to sum up some of the most noticeable consequences.

  • There will be border control when you want to enter the UK, also from EU countries
  • You will not be able to use Euros in the UK, but have to resort to the local currency
  • Better get used to different metric units: instead of meters, liters and kilos, think yards, pints and pounds
  • If you travel with your car, you need to keep to the left side of the road

I know, it is a lot and it is drastic, but there’s no way to avoid it – it was a democratic decision in a referendum held amongst the well-informed population.

How I became a fan of Donald Trump

Whatever you think of Donald Trump, you will have to admit: ever since he decided to run for president of the United States, things are moving at a pace that was deemed impossible until that point in time. Whether his decision resulted from a bet, a joke or a could-I-pull-this-off question we will never know. But it has become quite obvious that he did not really consider in any detail what the actual consequences (for himself, the United States, and the world) would be should the crazy endeavour really (perhaps ‘really, really’ instead of just ‘really’ would be more appropriate here, given the context) succeed. Continue reading

I gladly give up privacy for convenience

What is it with all these concerns about privacy? As I am spending quite a bit of my time in Germany, and even more because I am working for a German company operating in the IT security space, I am confronted with privacy related issues on a regular basis. But still I fail to see what the problem is.

Have all these people so much to hide that they need to be concerned about whatever they are hiding getting exposed to the party they want to hide it from? (Most likely I imagine that to be either the tax administration or the cheated wife – in the first case: please stop using the public roads that I, but not you, have been paying for; don’t call the fire brigade if your house is on fire, but try putting out the fire yourself; and when you unfortunately have to spend some time in the hospital, pay the full bill yourself). Continue reading

When do you stop being an immigrant?

20999913120_8f3f8b117c_kThese last few weeks, refugees from war zones like Syria have been headline news around the clock in just about every single news bulletin. On their journey towards Europe, they encounter both very positive and very negative reactions from the local population of whichever area they happen to be passing by (or got stuck in) that day.

The locals reacting negatively are pointing out that a number of the refugees are not on the run because of a dangerous situation in their home town, but Continue reading

Brexit referendum? Yes, but not in the UK

7378007002_7a41e66884_oWhy not organize a referendum about the question whether or not the United Kingdom should still be part of the European Union, the so called Brexit? But: instead of doing so in the UK to find out what the UK population thinks about this matter, I suggest to organize the referendum in the entire EU – in all 28 countries. That way we can find out whether the entire EU-population prefers to keep the UK on board or not. Continue reading