A blog about being European and from the UK.
Two years ago today, we were in a quiet, old-fashioned bar in Amsterdam. At some point in the evening the house cat jumped up onto my lap. “He never does that normally”, his owner remarked as he set down our drinks. “He must like you”. Some hours later midnight came and went and Amsterdam night … More Brexit +2: Where are we now?
Sometimes it’s difficult to take a look at our own lives and discern where our story is heading. That’s when it helps to have the advice of good friends – those who have enough distance to see the patterns and trends, but are also close enough that they understand and care. This month Britain’s friends … More The politics of lies – recommended reading and listening
Whilst it would be great if the British PM was being as ambitious as the Taoiseach about language learning, we don’t need his or anybody else’s permission to set out on this path ourselves. If he won’t do it for the country as a whole, we can at least do it for ourselves. … More Boris Johnson lacks Irish ambition on language learning, but you don’t need him – start learning a language anyway
Today marks the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. We can hope it signals the demise of his brand of populist politics too. It was Trump himself who compared his 2016 election win to Brexit. Nigel Farage and the leaders of the Leave.eu campaign wasted no time in grabbing a photo opportunity with him. Brash claims … More Brexit Populism Trumped?
Two Europeans is a blog about life, politics, language, culture and travel. We took a break when the pandemic began, but we look forward to starting up again soon and we would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful New Year. Meanwhile here’s our take on the Brexit deal and some reasons … More Where next following Brexit?
How did we get here? This is the question that came to mind as I read the government’s policy paper on negotiations with the EU, published on Thursday. There is a sense of unreality about the 36-page document. Their priority is severing ties to Europe, not with a specific purpose in mind but rather as … More Has Brexit become an Orwellian cult?
I just don’t understand the whole blue passport thing. And I am not talking about the fact that it seems to be black rather than blue, or that we could have had blue (or is it black?) passports when we were still inside the EU, like Croatia has (as this Irish factcheck explains, burgundy was … More Blue passports: Why do some people celebrate becoming less free?
We love Amsterdam. We visited together in 2017 after a 20-year gap and loved it so much that we’ve been back several times. For ages we overlooked it and set our sights on European cities further afield, but we are now utterly in love with the place. Why are we so smitten? It is an … More City guide: Our Amsterdam top ten
Today we review a book that was published exactly one year ago: Nine Lessons in Brexit by Sir Ivan Rogers (Amazon). As UK ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers witnessed at first hand David Cameron’s attempt to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership. In December 2016 he was the target of attacks from Brexiteer … More Book review: Nine lessons in Brexit
One of our aims for this blog is to share perspectives from the European mainland. So as Britain officially exits the EU, here are a couple of editorial pieces from the German press … Europe’s Island Translation of a comment piece by Stefan Kornelius in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 01.02.2020. Throughout their history Europeans have drawn borders … More Brexit day: Views from Germany
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