Category Archives: European Union

Ayurveda, Brexit, European Union, God, health care, Jesus, new writer, plant-based lifestyle, refugees, society, vegansim, vision

Culling healthy animals is criminal

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According to one female farmer in the UK this week, “Culling healthy animals is criminal.” Let’s start with this disgusting euphemism “culling”. This word means: “to reduce the population of a wild animal by selective slaughter.” This word is used so that we think that it is normal and good that animals are born and reared in order to die in order to produce meat for human consumption. But any killing of animals is rightly termed as animal slaughter. But when there aren’t enough butchers around to slaughter the animals, then we “cull” thousands of them instead. And only culling is criminal, not raising them and slaughtering them for human consumption. Animals are sentient beings, just like human beings, and it should be made illegal to slaughter them. The pain and fear they experience in the lead-up to and while being slaughtered is exactly what any human being would experience. “To animals reared for food production, all humans are Nazis.” Ironic and tragic also , then, that the nations of the world with the largest religious communities eat the most animal flesh.

Next I come to why we have a shortage of slaughterers in the UK. Because of Brexit. Every reader of this blog knows that I have been pro-European since the age of 18 and that I vehemently opposed Brexit and all the lies that were told to the British people. Now we have one of the many consequences: animals being culled, empty supermarket shelves, a shortage of nurses and carers. The list goes on. And Boris Johnson thinks he can solve this problem by allocating six-month work visas to EU workers after all. The reaction to date has proved that he can dream on.

And talking of Boris Johnson and the EU, this week has seen refugees drowning in the Channel. Tragedy beyond belief. Boris Johnson’s diplomatic response is to post a three-page letter on Twitter in English addressed to the French President, Emmanuel Macron. Quite rightly, President Macron responded that Boris Johnson could not be taken seriously and that he is no more than “clown” leading a formerly great nation and potential ally of France. He is right, let’s face it. And why does Johnson not have any advisers who told him that he needed to have his undiplomatic letter published in French? This kind of insular arrogance beggars belief.

This has not been a good week for the UK. At least Boris the Buffoon can carry on drinking gin, ignoring his responsibility to all the children he has fathered and illegally celebrating parties at Number 10, as if Corona really were just a joke Pepper Pig illness that just kills off a few elderly people who we would be better of without anyway.

Meanwhile, the church also has nothing to say about human beings dying in the Channel who so desperately needed Christian compassion. Instead, they look on, vote for the most racist Foreign Minister I have experienced during my lifetime, Priti Patel, rub their meat-filled tummies and celebrate how much a non-existent God loves them, at least.

“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.”
― Soren Kierkegaard

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, politics, refugees, society, vision

Barmy budget

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This week saw Philip Hammond produce his pre-Brexit budget. A dangerous and hypocritical attempt to support our Dancing Queen, Theresa May’s claim that austerity in the UK has now officially come to an end.

What Mr Hammond announced reminded me of a very poor, unemployed British family that already has enormous debts that it cannot repay and who decide nonetheless to cut themselves off from all their remaining family and friends. Their friends all pull away and don’t even invite them to go to the pub for a drink any more. At the last moment, just as the last friends and relatives are now even blocking their social media connections with this family and deliberately changing their telephone numbers, mum and dad, Theresa and Phil, succeed somehow, by telling lies, in borrowing five times what they already owe and can never repay in debts. One evening, Theresa and Phil tell their obese children at the dinner table, as they are enjoying their unhealthy fast-food dinner, that everything will be fine. Soon afterwards, however, mum and dad die in a sinking ferry in the English Chanel. Shortly after the death of their parents, the four children realise the truth and spend the rest of their lives, in vain, trying to repair the tragic mess they inherited from Theresa and Phil.

The truth is, the Conservative Party has done a predictable volte-face after many years of so-called austerity in order to try to save face as the disaster of Brexit comes ever nearer. In order to create the impression of a wonderfully successful government, Mr Hammond has borrowed enormous amounts of money that the UK can never repay. And he has already committed to spending 97% of the government’s unexpected surplus in tax revenue from recent months rather than invest it or use it to reduce the frightening national debt.

As the nation is about to cut adrift from its only allies, he has plunged the Disunited Kingdom into financial and fiscal chaos. And based on what? There can only be two driving thoughts going through his mind. Either he is hoping for a general election in 2019 that will, thanks to their enormous, fake generosity, keep the Conservative Party in power while the Labour Party remains weak under Jeremy Corbyn. Or he knows full damn well that, should the Labour Party come to power, they will be saddled with such enormous debts that they cannot even try to reboot the economy with their customary application of Keynesian economic principles. Then, since the country cannot recover from all the debt, and after things have got even worse post-Brexit, the Tories of course blame Labour for irresponsible over-spending and economic chaos, they promise yet another chimeric economic recovery from a disaster that they had created, get back into power and the whole childish, cyclical, undemocratic tomfoolery starts all over again.

Meanwhile, across the Chanel, what a contrast is taking place in the Federal Republic of Germany. This week, Angela Merkel stood up before the nation and the world and took personal responsibility for the increasing unpopularity of her decision to allow over one million desperate refugees to enter the country in 2016. As a result, she will be stepping down from the party leadership yet remain as Chancellor until the next general election in order to provide stability in a time of great, global uncertainty. With great power comes great responsibility. What an astute, responsible, honourable and well thought-through response to an increasingly challenging political situation. Imagine Theresa May standing even before the 1922 Committee two weeks ago, taking responsibility for the Brexit nightmare and offering to stand down as party leader whilst offering to lead the country through at least until Brexit is behind her.

I find it so ironic that the UK government is pulling away from the very Community from whom it could learn so much. The ignorance caused by isolationalism is lethal. No man is an island. No leader and no political system is perfect, but in a globalised world, we need one another’s multi-cultural perspectives more and more in order to maximise creative dialectic and in order to hold a mirror up to one another and see our societal strengths and weaknesses from a variety of perspectives.

So, let’s end on a positive note. What could the UK currently learn from its more successful and secure neighbours in order to rise again triumphantly from its prevailing dust and ashes? Here are a few suggestions:

  1. Abolish the monarchy and the House of Lords. Move out of the symbolically crumbling Houses of Parliament with its silly, opposing benches and move into a round building that promotes intelligent debate and genuine democracy.
  2. Introduce teaching about politics in our schools, promote the establishing of alternative political parties and introduce some degree of proportional representation.
  3. Abolish all private schools and invest more money in state-funded education and training.
  4. Take greater responsibility for the environment, including the re-nationalisation of the rail network.
  5. Devolve power from London to the regions, counties, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
  6. Remain in the European Union, adopt the Euro as a currency, embrace freedom of movement by signing up the Schengen Agreement.
  7. Bring in new laws in order to curb social inequality. Has no one ever wondered why May, Hammond, Cameron, Blair, Thatcher are all Oxford graduates? (And I don’t say that out of jealousy because I am one myself).
  8. Reform the National Health Service as opposed to throwing away unbelievable amounts of money into an archaic system that is flawed at the core.
  9. Invest heavily into businesses that actually manufacture products that the rest of the world wants to buy. The UK needs to trade more products, not services.
  10. Finally, understand that we British are not Japanese, who achieve great results by team-work; we are not Germans, who achieve great results by systems and methods; and we are not Americans, who achieve great results – the present political climate excepted – by inspiring leadership and dedicated, creative followers, but we are a curious combination of all these attributes, which combined with a genuinely democratic political system and the right social culture, could with humility achieve results on a par with any other of the world’s leading nations.

“The tragedy for British politics — for Britain — has been that politicians of both parties have consistently failed, not just in the 1950s but on up to the present day, to appreciate the emerging reality of European integration. And in doing so they have failed Britain’s interests.” Prime Minister Tony Blair (2001).

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, politics, society, vision

Having the time of your life, Mrs May?

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Especially from the perspective of a UK citizen living in Europe, this sabbati horribilis has been so embarrassing and depressing as the shambles of the Conservative Party conference took place in Birmingham.

The Foreign Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, compares the European Union to a Soviet prison. Boris Johnson is photographed running through a field of wheat in order to mock the prime minister he is openly betraying.

To crown it all, yesterday we had Theresa May literally dancing on to the stage at the party conference to Abba’s “Dancing Queen.” So was wie peinlich! Quite apart from the fact that Theresa May had to resort to a European, non-British pop song for her cringe-worthy entrance, she chose the wrong one. Abba’s “SOS” would have course been far more appropriate, especially the opening lines: “Where are those happy days, they seem so hard to find, I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind …”

All Mrs May could do during her speech was to reflect on the past, to knock her political opponents and to make false promises about there being no further austerity after Brexit. There was no vision, no new policies that would help to move the nation forward, and no movement in her flawed Chequers plan that is splitting her party, the UK and the EU. Yet she boldly claimed, “Let’s say it loud and clear: Conservatives will always stand up for a politics that unites us rather than divides us.”

Can she seriously believe this nonsense? Given a solitary year of majority government for the first time in a quarter of a century, the Conservatives gave the nation the most divisive event that has happened to it in four hundred years, from which it remains entirely unclear how it is meant to recover.  

Mrs May also proudly reminded us that the Conservative party “will put into place a new immigration system that will allow businesses and universities to attract the brightest and best to the UK” whilst ensuring that all low-skilled workers from the European Union and elsewhere will be banned from setting foot on the sinking island.

How ironic and hypocritical, therefore, were Mrs May’s comments about the Conservatives being the only party to give opportunities to the nation. “To dream, and strive, and achieve a better life,” she said. “To know that if your dad arrived on a plane from Pakistan, you can become home secretary.”

Sajid Javid’s dad, an unskilled migrant who worked on the buses, would never be allowed into Britain under the new immigration policies proposed by Theresa May!

Her understanding of democracy is even more nefarious than her understanding of citizenship (see quotation below).

She dismissed talk of a second referendum, which “wouldn’t be a people’s vote, it would be a politicians’ vote, telling people they got it wrong the first time.”

In reality of course, a second referendum would be the people passing verdict on how the politicians have got on with handling the first people’s vote. And that means her. The current numbers suggest that that verdict would be damning. No wonder she can’t uphold what would amount to true democracy.

Ah, well, to my consolation, yesterday, “Der Tag der deutschen Einheit” (German Unity Day), I finally completed my application for German citizenship. Not because I am worried about the personal consequences of a predictably awful Brexit, but because I am ashamed to remain British.

“If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere. You don’t understand what citizenship means.” Theresa May.

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, politics

There is a tide in the affairs of men

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“Nobody is ruling out remain as an option.”

When Keir Starmer made this comment at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool yesterday, it will be no surprise to you that this was music to my ears. Finally, we have a UK politician who is not only bold enough to make this statement but also a man in the making who could lead both a party and the country. The long, standing ovation he received was also a significant sign that the mood in the nation is changing. I would not be surprised if the Labour Party were to approve a motion that included remain as an option.

Meanwhile, as if disconnected from the real political landscape and real human beings, Theresa May grasps on to her Chequers Plan,  knowing that she is a dead woman walking, and Jeremy Corbyn, when asked by Sky TV five times about a second referendum, simply cannot give a simple answer to the question. I do admit that Corbyn did well in his concluding speech at the conference today. He was more confident than in previous years, raised important issues that concern those who Labour has lost to other parties in recent years and his offer to support the Conservatives in the event of a successful Brexit was undoubtedly a sound tactical manoeuvre that will protect the Labour Party in the months ahead.

Nevertheless, he is not the right man at the right time for the UK’s current attempt at kamikaze.

Shakespeare wrote in Julius Caesar: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

It is my sincere and deepest hope that, while May and Corbyn remain bound in the shallows, a humble and gifted leader such as Keir Starmer recognises the tide and leads the UK back to good fortune, a fairer society and a key European player on globalised stage.

There are still many more interesting days ahead, and who knows what might happen …

“I believe things cannot make themselves impossible.” Stephen Hawking.

 

 

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, politics

Abuse of democracy

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Theresa May wrote last weekend in “The Sunday Telegraph”  that she is determined to get the best Brexit terms for the UK, that there will definitely be no second referendum on the issue and that she will deliver the will of the British people.

Meanwhile, Michael Barnier has made it very clear last weekend that the terms of the Brexit deal that Mrs May is proposing are completely unacceptable.

On Monday morning, Boris Johnson wrote, also in “The Telegraph”, that the UK will get a very bad deal out of this “war” with Europe and the UK will “remain in the EU taxi, but locked up in the boot.”

Apart from the disastrous consequences of any form of Brexit, I remain very concerned about the general abuse of democracy that is at the root of this mess.

First off, as I have written before in this blog, the UK is very far from being a functioning democracy: unelected “representatives” in the House of Lords, a first past the post electoral system with moveable, electoral boundaries, laws passed by two opposing parties screaming verbal abuse at one another, and so on.

Secondly, Theresa May talks stubbornly about delivering the will of the British people. Quite apart from wondering how this woman, who opposed Brexit two years ago, can now try to deliver something that she doesn’t really believe in, why does she pretend to be deaf to the voices of the majority of the UK who now regret the Brexit vote and want a second referendum? She is obviously a disciple of Winston Churchill who once wrote that  the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.

The older generation, who ignorantly voted for Brexit, now realise that they, unlike the younger generation, will not have to live with the devastating consequences of Britain leaving the EU and are open to a second vote. They realise now that the anti-european posturing of the gutter press over the decades was actually all lies. The younger generation, many of whom are usually not that interested that in politics, now realise that they should have taken part in the referendum and want a second chance. Those in the middle now realise that, as a result of the terrible way in which the negotiations are being handled, Brexit will be a disaster and they too would prefer a second referendum. Millions of Britons, from successful entrepreneurs such as Euan Sutherland to the GMB are now rightly calling for a second referendum.

I only hope that Theresa May, whose political career has been over for many months now, has an epiphany and gives the British people want they really want: the opportunity to say that they have made a mistake and that they would like second chance to put things right before more multi-nationals move their offices and factories to Amsterdam and Frankfurt. And before an already flailing economy descends into dramatic recession.

If this does not happen, the UK, Europe and large parts of the world will remain increasingly polarised. More Obamas will become Trumps, more Mays will become Johnsons. We will see more Putins, Erdogans and Assads emerge on the political stage while racism and brutality increase on our streets.

Come along, Mrs May, stop hiding your political failure behind your abuse of the word “democracy” and give the British people what they want. History will honour you for it.

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.”  Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Berlin, Cooking, Education, European Union, health care, plant-based lifestyle, society, tourism, vegansim

Choose vegan: Update #3

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Spanish “vegan” salad

I’ve just got back from a wonderful two weeks in Spain (Andalusia). It is so easy to relax there and I love everything about it: the people, the weather, the language, the culture, the music, the sea and the food. And they never seem to go to bed, not even families with young children. Ernest Hemingway wrote: “There is no night life in Spain. They stay up late but they get up late. That is not night life. That is delaying the day.”

Being a vegan in Spain was much harder than in Berlin. In fact, I failed to keep going. I had lunch on my first day in a chiringuito overlooking the Mediterranean. I asked the waiter for a vegan salad. He looked puzzled and asked for confirmation. “Just salad, please,” I explained, “maybe some tomato, cucumber, peppers and lettuce – nothing that has come from an animal.”

“Sí, señor,” he replied confidently as he went away to place my order with the kitchen. About ten minutes later, my vegan salad arrived (see photo above) complete with a mound of tuna fish and sliced egg.

I had a similar experience in the shops and supermarkets. It was so much more difficult to find almond milk or soya yoghurt and although I managed to buy some tofu, I could not find any seitan or tempeh.

There is a paradox here somewhere. It is currently harder to live a plant-based life in Spain where there is an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables than it is in Germany where there is an abundance of meat and where we import so much of our fruit and vegetables from Spain. How can this be? Why is that veganism, rather like buying organic produce, is a privilege of the stronger economy?

Leaving the politics, power and lobbying of the meat and dairy industry to one side, I can only assume that we are dealing with a matter of culture and education. When your country is more than three-quarters surrounded by a sea teeming with fish, naturally it becomes part of the culture to enjoy paella, salpicón, fish soup and barbecued sardines. Yet we know that doing something for cultural reasons does not make it morally right. Were Spanish children to be exposed to the truth about the suffering that these fish and other animals in the meat and dairy industry endure, I am confident that there would be a gradual shift in the culture too. Then, countries like Spain would become the ideal place to enjoy a plant-based lifestyle.

And finally, what about vegans killing flies or buying down pillows,  leather sofas or wearing wool pullovers?

Logically, if the primary motivation for a plant-based lifestyle is to prevent the unnecessary suffering of animals, then it would be better to avoid killing wasps and flies and so on if at all possible. I hope you get my gist. To go into more detail rapidly becomes absurd. For example, when I was in Spain, there was a plague of jellyfish. These fascinating animals have no eyes, no heart and no brain. Would it be okay to kill them? I’d still say, better not.

With down pillows, leather sofas and wool pullovers, the answer is easier. In order to produce these goods, animal suffering is nearly always involved. One glance at the videos contained in the hyperlinks above should be enough to convince you.

Now I’m back home, I am back on course with my plant-based diet and feel better for it. However, I am still a bit jittery about the latest Brexit statements coming for the UK. Apparently, it could happen that UK citizens living in Europe will no longer receive their pensions. Ah well, as my son said, at least I could go and open the first vegan restaurant in Torremolinos?

“I would sooner be a foreigner in Spain than in most countries. How easy it is to make friends in Spain!” – George Orwell

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, politics, vision

UK General Election 2018?

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The damage being inflicted on the UK at the moment is painful to observe. In every area: political, social, economic, cultural and diplomatic. If you are British and living outside the UK, it is also highly embarrassing.

The recent tactical resignation of Boris the Buffoon and Davis the Dumb has both added to the damage and made it clear that at least one of these men intends to take Theresa May’s place.

I have written before that I desperately want this woman to be ousted or for her to resign. She reminds me of a rather scared, out-of-touch grandmother who is permanently overwhelmed and even scared by everything that is going on around her. Her latest nickname in Germany is “Mrs Planlos” (Mrs Without-a-Plan). To be fair, though, she does now finally have a plan and it has ripped her Conservative Party to shreds.

Maybe we are getting closer to her “Mexit” now? Yet the scary thing is that most obvious alternatives to Theresa May would cause even more damage to the country. Imagine “Mexiteers” Boris Johnson or Jacob Rees-Mogg or Michael Gove as prime minister! At least Donald Trump has this week praised Boris and suggested he would be a good prime minister, thereby lessening the Buffoon’s chances of realising his dream.

And it’s such a shame that the Labour Party cannot offer a viable alternative.

Most of my European friends are hoping now that yet another General Election will be called soon and that the new government will offer the British people a second referendum on the Brexit issue. Were that to happen, they are confident that the UK would then rightly remain in the EU.

Whereas I am not so sure my friends are right, I would be delighted with such an outcome. Then, all as the UK would need, is a charismatic, pro-European prime minister with a passionate vision for democracy, freedom and globalisation. Some one like … Barack Obama perhaps?

“As an entrepreneur, I have been known for taking risks throughout my career, but leaving the European Union is not one of the risks I would want the U.K. to take – not as an investor, not as a father, and not as a grandfather. I am deeply concerned about the impact of leaving.”  Richard Branson.

Berlin, European Union, free literature, health care, politics, society, video

Anonymous for the voiceless

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As I was going shopping recently, outside the mall was a small group of people wearing Guy Fawkes masks and holding laptops depicting images of suffering animals. They labelled themselves as “Anonymous for the Voiceless.” I guess all my life I have pushed this important issue to one side and carried on being carnivorous.

On this occasion, however, a particular phrase caught my attention: “Why are my taste-buds more important than the suffering and death of another living creature?”

Since then I have watched two of the videos recommended by the group, one by Ed Winters (UK) and one by Gary Yourofsky (USA), and I have felt obliged to review my standpoint. Apart from the horrendous suffering inflicted upon the animals that are slaughtered for meat, I also discovered some things I never knew about the dairy industry.

I had never thought about how, in order to produce milk, cows have to be artificially inseminated and then have their calves taken away from them very soon after birth so that the cows can produce milk for human consumption.  Nor did I realise that these young calves soon had their insides ripped out as a by-product of selling veal so that the rennet can be obtained from their fourth stomach in order to curdle the milk used to make cheese. As for the condition of even the chickens that lay eggs for us … best not even go there. So now I understand why, for vegans, the dairy industry is pretty much on the same level of the meat industry. There is no such thing humane suffering or a humane death.

In the same week as I watched these videos, I read an article about Air New Zealand serving up a vegan burger on its flights to the USA. This received an angry reaction from the country’s carnivores. NZ MP Nathan Guy wrote on Twitter: “Disappointing to see Air NZ promoting a GE substitute meat burger on its flights to the USA. We produce the most delicious steaks and lamb on the planet – GMO and hormone free. The national carrier should be pushing our premium products and helping sell NZ to the world.”

Jingoism used to justify insane human cruelty?

A few years ago, when I was so unenlightened that I believed in God, some vegetarian friends asked me why I ate meat. I had no real answer. Now, however, I understand it has a lot to do with the fact animals and the environment are unimportant to the great Christian myth. The Bible tells us that God was more pleased with Abel’s fat-laden animal sacrifice than with Abel’s vegetable sacrifice (Genesis 4:2-7). It tells us that God gave humans permission to eat meat and that all animals would forever live in fear of humans (Genesis 9:1-3). It tells us that animals do not have a soul (Genesis 1:26-27) and so do not require salvation. It tells us that humans are to rule over the animals and nature (Genesis 1:26-27). It tells us that animals were sacrificed to cover human sin (Hebrews 9:22). And it tells us that this world will one day be destroyed and a new, beautiful, sinless world will be created to replace it (2 Peter 3:10-13).

When such narratives can be used to justify your cultural behaviour, you don’t need to give any thought to the suffering of animals or our willful  destruction of the environment. When was the last time you heard a sermon in church encouraging you to become a vegan?

Conversely, many Hindus are vegetarian. In Hinduism, animals are treated with greater respect (perhaps shaped by reincarnation?) and there is no notion of this world being destroyed and a new one created to replace it.

In conclusion, I challenge you to watch the video below. I can assure you that once you do, you will have no excuses left to remain a carnivore.

In case you are wondering, should non-believers tell Christians to become vegans? No.  Have I become a vegan? Yes.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of humankind.”   Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, health care, politics

Help with medical care

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At the end of last year my elderly British mother moved from Spain to live with her family here in Berlin. On the day that she arrived at the airport, she was pushed to the ground by an aggressive woman who was sharing the airport buggy with her. I was so excited to see my mum again for the first time in years that I never thought about reporting the incident to the police or checking what kind of travel insurance she had. It turns out that this was my first big mistake.

This accident swiftly led to a haematoma on her leg, a month-long stay in a hospital and three operations, including a skin graft. Her overall health has seriously deteriorated and she now requires regular daily care since she can no longer get up or walk on her own.

At such moments of great sadness and stress, you are always grateful to be so privileged to live in the EU since you know that full state medical care will be available and everything will be fine. You lament even more the Brexit decision because you fear that such reciprocal health care between EU-member states will soon be coming to an end. Well, that’s the theory …

In practice, however, the last eight months have been a constant, degrading and exhausting battle, first even to get the hospital and ambulance bills paid. The doctor who operated on my mother’s leg even had the audacity to ask my mother whether she had come to Germany purely in order to receive free medical treatment.

Then came the battle for medical insurance. My mother’s IHC card was not valid because she had become a resident of Germany and was longer just on a short holiday visit. This led to many hours spent making telephone calls, writing letters, filling in forms and arranging appointments with advice centres. Almost every piece of advice given was, in the end, wrong. It was as if either no one had ever been in this situation before or that the EU law meant absolutely nothing in practice.

I found myself wondering what would have happened to  an 81-year-old German or Spanish woman, had all this happened to her in the UK. I cannot imagine for one moment that the NHS would have turned her away. Is the Brexit-driven UK, when the rubber hits the road, more faithful and efficient at carrying out EU directives than the more staunch, pro-EU nations?

Finally I learned from the UK International Health Care Team about the “Form S1” which gives UK nationals living permanently abroad the same medical care as the citizens who live in the host nation. We applied for the form and when it arrived in Berlin, duly signed and stamped, we assumed our struggles were over.

However, just when we thought were safe, we discovered that there are two levels of health care for pensioners in Germany, one that covers basic health care such as a visit to the doctor, but another that provides the person with care if they require assistance with essential daily tasks or going to the toilet and personal hygiene.

The Form S1, it was argued in Germany, covers the former, but not the latter, leaving my mother in a terrible situation. In other words, the Form S1 does not in practice entitle EU-citizens the same medical care as the citizens who live in the host nation. “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

After four months of fighting this battle and watching my mother’s physical and psychological state deteriorate, I really was so full of despair and was about to give up. Not even the British Embassy could help us. I started to plan to fly her back to England to put her in a home and leave her there with no regular contact with her son or four grandchildren. A sad and lonely departure from life.

Then, one day I was told that I should make a formal complaint about the health insurance company’s refusal to provide my mother with the full level of health care. I did so, invoking all kinds on EU-law. Months later this led to the requirement of one last form from the UK which only the health insurance company could request. When this form arrived in Germany, within a few weeks the original refusal was rescinded and the decision made to provide my mother with the full level of health care that a German citizen would receive. “All animals are equal, provided they know exactly which forms to fill in.”

As much as I am of course delighted about this decision, the enormous frustration has left its scars. This whole endurance test, which left my mother at home alone in inhumane conditions, which caused my children no longer to feel comfortable at home with their friends and which caused me hours of desperation, could have been avoided if only one person had been able to tell me the procedure from the outset. It all boiled down to just two short documents.

So, if you or someone you know is struggling with the same issue either in Germany or another EU-country, feel free to drop me an e-mail and I can with pleasure walk you through the process in a few, simple steps.

“After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.”  David Cameron.

Berlin, Brexit, European Union, God, politics, society, vision

Disappointment leads to further delusion

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This week I stumbled upon another perfect example of exactly the kind of lies and diversion tactics of so-called charismatic churches that I have been referring to.

Given their failure to grow numerically in a way that God had allegedly promised, now the leaders have found the latest exciting project for which the church’s naive members will keep on giving excessive amounts of their income. And it comes with yet another promise of great blessing. The church will be like Joseph, providing food for the poor, and then the Lord will mightily bless us. Such blatant misapplication of the Bible always has selfishness at its core.

As I have said in a previous blog, the history of the last three decades of such churches has included “prophetic” promises of revival, then a call to buy large buildings, then Kidz Klubs to reach out to working class children, then planting new churches, then multiple services. None of which produces any tangible church growth, let alone the revival of the masses. It is still hard to believe that the members of such sects never seem to pause and ask: “But why have we not grown after all these projects from God? Where is the revival? Why is the nation in a much worse condition now that all these Christians are influencing things for the better? Is God a liar? Have our leaders and prophets lied? Is no one going to apologise and face up to the failure, deception and disappointment?”

But I guess that’s in the nature of how sects work: you become blind by cultural deception. In any case, challenging authoritarian leaders is a waste of time and will lead to you being bad-mouthed and ostracised. Believe me, I know, because I was once was of those leaders.

Back to the latest idea. If you watch the video, you will see that it involves another costly building project which will pay for a reduction (!) in the size of the church auditorium  and the construction of a warehouse to store food for a food bank to provide food to poor people.

First of all, this is a blinding new idea since it cleverly lets all the church members off the hook with regards to personal evangelism. The thought is: “Thank God! Now I no longer have to feel guilty for having no non-Christian friends; no longer feel guilty about my pathetic inability to share my faith convincingly and authentically with non-believers; no longer feel guilty about the fact that I have not seen one close friend become a Christian in the last decade. Now I can give my money in significant quantities towards another God-given  project, this time to feed the poor. Phew!”

Just a few years ago, when I was leading the church, we received a prophetic word in which an apostle prophesied to us that we had to organise our diaries around reaching the lost. I wonder what happened to that divine instruction? Maybe it’s less increasingly in our DNA!?! (sic)

Secondly, the food bank itself contains masses of animal produce: meat, fish, cheese, milk and even coffee that breaks all guidelines of fair trade with developing nations. Why is it that the church does not pause to ask God the question whether its members should stop being fanatically sadistic to animals and live a vegan lifestyle? If you’d like to see why this point is so important, I recommend you watch this life-changing video presentation by Gary Yourofsky.

Thirdly, providing food for poor people as a project is definitely not, according to Jesus Christ, the role his church! Jesus is clear that the poor will be with us always and that helping the poor is something that individuals do to other individuals. For example, through private hospitality, creating also an opportunity to share one’s faith. But of course inviting a smelly, sick alcoholic who lives on the streets into my home is too great a challenge. A project is much safer, more palatable and does not invade my precious, personal space.

Food bank  projects are the responsibility of politicians and governments. Certainly not the church. Increasing poverty in Britain is a direct responsibility of failing government. And Brexit is about to make it a whole lot worse.

Jesus did  not deal with Rome by becoming a social project manager. He dealt with Rome by creating a dynamic community of joyful radicals who unashamedly lived out their bold, counter-cultural faith one-on-one with the family, friends and community members surrounding them, pumped with faith in a God who could feed body, soul and spirit.

Keeping it boring, neat and tidy is the death knell of a church movement. Mark my words.

“If Jesus came back and saw what was being done in his name, he’d never stop throwing up.”  Woody Allen.