My Life on this planet.

Mr Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission, wrote a letter which he calls a love letter as a response to the UK that may be leaving the EU soon, the so-called Brexit. In his letter he tells the British that they are more than welcome to return may they decide to do so. Of course, after Brexit is completed, the British can return if they wish. But, I think, first Brexit has to be completed and the sooner the better so relations can return to normal and the UK may consider to rejoin. Or not. Organisation of referendum First, in the fifth paragraph of the letter Mr Timmermans mentions although not by name that David Cameron made a wrong decision when he organised the EU referendum. I don't agree; even the LibDems who were in the coalition with the Tories didn't block the referendum as they could have done by leaving the government. I accept many politicians may have thought that organising the referendum would have silenced the leavers whi...

I agree with US President Trump when he condemns Europe and approves sanctions against companies for Europe's gas deal with Russia as we become indeed too dependent from Russia. Two main reasons why I think this is a bad deal: climate change and Russia's bad influence in the world that needs funding. But, I also understand it is against the USA's fossil fuel trade with Europe. Wrong energy Europe, always telling others they need to take climate change serious because it will be bad for (Europe's) economy while it seems Europe doesn't mind poor regions remain poor. Europe condemns Brazil and other countries when they burn and destroy their forests to use the land to culture food that is exported to Europe. Europe also uses hard wood that come from forests. And yes, land is also used to build cities for growing populations. But, also Europe continues to destroy its few forests instead of replacing derelict buildings. Europe also asks developing nations a...

Marieke Vervoort . Belgian Paralympics champion. In October 2019 she, or better her body decided for her that further living became unbearable painful. And thus, although she wanted to live, her body decided it was time to use Belgium's right to die a dignified death under Belgium's euthanasia law. Indeed, sometimes Belgium can be an example for the rest of the world. A touching NY Times article to honour her and a personal thought by the photographer who pictured her during the past years to show that euthanasia is not something that is an easy escape route as she postponed her end a few times until it was clear to everyone her suffering became too much. It seems the parents are not happy with the photos although I hope they change their mind in future. Indeed, Marieke wanted to show the world why dignified death is not something wrong. Euthanasia in any circumstances without judgment And although euthanasia is possible with the possibility to cancel the final end unt...

Situation Extreme left, left, green and extreme right all voted for more money for nurses as they are essential workers who save lives. Centre and centre right parties claim this is irresponsible because of Belgium's major debt problem that partly exist because it's historic from the time Belgium had only one government and needed to divide expenses in a certain ratio between Flanders and Wallonia even when only one region needed money to invest and because Belgium, like other countries, had to save its financial sector 10 years ago. Also the socialists are condemned and accused of throwing away money but this was to be expected as a social party can't accept that underinvestments in the social sector last for ever. Now parties are saying that the separatist right-wing Flemish party NV-A has to take responsibility by forming a coalition with the Walloon socialist party PS that is strongly pro Belgium so a real budget can be agreed and as the EU demands. Still, this ...

Companies pay former partners Even politicians start to get fed up with incompetence. PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) paid former partners for a total of about £100 million , thus people who no longer work for the company. This at a time when it seems they were incompetent to check certain companies so they failed while afterwards the same PwC earned millions to overlook the dismantlement of one of these company and thus PwC earns twice: first to overlook companies whereby they fail to notice mismanagement so the company goes bankrupt and thus little if anything remains for shareholders while other companies probably have to pay more when they want to buy viable parts of the company. Indeed, accounting companies should be forced to split their audit and consulting businesses into two separate companies without any link to avoid abuse of powers. Indeed, being ruthless and without compassion is the only way to work at such accounting companies. These companies also calculate the ...

What was to be expected that may happen one day: a war against the tabloids by Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle . Indeed, Prince Harry never forgot how the media was responsible for the dead of his mother and thus now he wants to protect his wife and child against the gossip media, certainly because part of the media is considered as hostile towards his dark-skinned wife who decided to have a break away from the media during her pregnancy as is her right to do. He's not the only person who is fed up with the intrusion of privacy by part of the media , a media that has been warned since years they are overstepping lines. And thus, as phone hacking is illegal without a court order, I think they should be able to win that part if they can proof part of the media hacked them. Of course, it will not make them popular with the media. However, after reading this article whereby I understand her father went to the media with the letter she wrote, it seems to suggest the real ...

I've mentioned it before: interest rates should not be too low. Indeed, people who save should earn something that they can use to spend in the economy. Similarly and as mentioned in this article , borrowing should not be too cheap and thus easy to avoid that more risks are taken by borrowing too much as that can destabilise the economy. Indeed, companies need to sell and according this they can invest more although that doesn't mean they can never borrow to expand, but only when needed and not only because interests are low so companies expand too quickly and not according the need. And thus, as companies seem to borrow too much while customers have almost no return on savings so they spend less (although many businesspeople and economists think this is good for the economy as they think it will force people into buying shares that at this moment still give larger returns than saving accounts), predictions are that companies may feel it very severely when a new, ...

Europe should not only criticize Turkey for invading the north of Syria to create as Turkey claims safe areas as this should have been done before so Syrians didn't need to escape their country. However, it's a pity Turkish President Erdogan considers the Kurds as enemies while the Kurds prevented ISIS and Assad's army to come close to Turkey's borders. Further, we should have sent much earlier judges to judge European ISIS fighters at the place where they committed human right violations. It also demonstrates why it's important to invest in modern military equipment that can be operated by professional military instead of an army of soldiers. But, Europe prefers to battle with each other over a country that wants to leave. What the EU could expect happened as tension between Kurds and Turkey are high since years: Turkey has over 3,6 million Syrian refugees within its borders and similar as the EU, the country wants them out. Thus, the north of Syria close ...

PM Johnson spoke with PM Merkel of Germany . He says she told him that his new proposals are unacceptable. Officials deny she said it this way but, as she doesn't make public what was said, she said it. President Tusk is angry that this may destroy the EU. He should know that Brexiters don't mind and many even hope for the end of the EU. Before the referendum Mr Johnson said the EU wants to become a superstate under one authority, just as Hitler did (it also shows how Brexiters speak about the poor while Remainers are in general in favour of austerity). Now he claims that Germany said that Germany has the right to leave the EU but the UK cannot in its entirety because of Northern Ireland. Indeed, as if Germany refuses the UK its right to leave under Article 50. But, we should not forget that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, not part of Ireland nor the EU as the EU is an organisation that unites countries on a voluntarily basis and thus, as long as the UK exists as i...

Interesting article to read about the direct African-American slave trade that was approved just over 500 years ago by emperor Charles V and lasted for about 350 years although we still experience the consequences. Consequences today: wars in Africa as leaders and their people were captured and leaderless societies became unstable while descendants of these black slaves are all over the continent America with the positive result of many different types of music such as rap, blues, R&B, samba and many more. Some white people remain racist who think white people are superior whereby they harm white people's reputation while many black people are angry for what happened to their ancestors but also because many still experience hostility and thus are not at the same level as white people in the country were both are born. Indeed, they are called African-Americans while white people are simply Americans as they are born in America and don't need to be reminded that their ...

In the  Intelligencer , a NY magazine, an article describes how climate change may be much worse than until now anticipated although I remember scientists discussing many of these topics before. But yes, troubles may happen much earlier than anticipated, even during the lifespan of those responsible. A few months ago on the Flemish radio, a book about the consequences of climate change and what will happen if we don't act was discussed. Part of the discussion was that the book is too extreme and thus people will not act when they think climate change can't be stopped. But the counter-argument was that talk about it in moderate wording and people will think we don't need to act while actions are needed to prevent the worse case scenario becomes reality. Whatever, too little is done at present to prevent the predicted climate change. The book discusses what can happen if the temperature increases at a maximum of 8°C. One person thinks the authors exaggerate. Indeed, it...

When a hurricane was approaching the Bahamas and now the US east coast, people were saying to pray that the hurricane will not be too devastated. If God exists, why should He help when humans continue to destroy the planet and refuse to spend sufficient money to reverse this? We will learn that repairing damage costs more in money but likely also lives and this is likely to change our behaviour. Reward and humans do not change and want more, punish or the threat of its existence and most people will change. President Trump said to pray for the Bahamas. Indeed, we can pray for island countries that have little contributed to climate change but does it changes much  as the damage is big? And now the storm is on its way to the East coast of the USA . Still, some people still don't recognise the urgency. However, for those who believe in a deity and certainly the powerful who talk about a God who may punish but refuse to accept responsibility for what is happening in the wo...