Ferry

Europe and Syria’s refugees

All my stories in the New Europan can be accessed here.

One of the stories that I was most proud of in 2021 was on Syrian refugees. I was lucky to come across the excellent and articulate artist Issam Kourbaj in Amsterdam’s Museum of the Tropics.

And it was fun to look at the Netherlands somewhat from a British media perspective.

Finally, a nice, lighthearted piece, a bit tongue in cheek, about our human need to be entertained, even if it means risking life and limb. Get ready for the summer of love, the whoring twenties, etc. Or so I thought. Alas, it was not to be. Eurovision song contest antics lost out to the serious stuff, like case numbers and vaccine percentages in this article for the New Europan.

The decline of Social democracy

The New European asked me to shed a light on the baffling decline of social democratic parties in Europe, in the wake of Labour’s poor performance on Super Thursday in May. My unsurprising conclusion: it’s complicated…

Dutch elections take

I got this Dutch pre-election analysis for The New European mostly right, but than again it wasn’t rocket science: Long-serving Dutch PM Mark Rutte gained seats, and so did the far-right. I didn’t see the gain for the so-called progressive liberals of D66 coming but don’t think it’s particularly significant. Further fragmentation and the far-right turn are.

Still Brexiting after all these years

Brexit, the gift that keeps on giving, right? For anyone who thought that the EU-UK trade deal was the end of it, think again. Brexit and its consequences are going to be with us for years, potentially until the UK rejoins the EU and then we can start all over again. That’s why, when BCU’s Centre for Brexit Studies asked me to continue to blog on it, even after the UK has finally left the building, I agreed. Enjoy!

Brexiting in Birmingham

For anyone wondering where I’ve been these last couple of months, I’m in Birmingham in the West-Midlands and using the opportunity to write about Brexit for Dutch newspaper Trouw and contributing a couple of posts to Birmingham City University’s Centre for Brexit Studies blog

Dutchies snackbar in Birmingham vreest de Brexit niet

Twee in Somalië geboren Nederlanders met een snackbar in de Balti-driehoek van Birmingham? Geen probleem, Najib Sufi en Amal Sharif vrezen de Brexit niet.

Brexit in Birmingham – Trouw

Birmingham, de tweede stad van Engeland, is een van de meest diverse en tegelijk ook een van de meest kwetsbare steden ten aanzien van Brexit. Deze vroegere ‘workshop of the world’ ten tijde van het British Empire, die Londen naar de kroon stak tot in de jaren zestig, ligt in de West-Midlands, de regio die de grootste economische neergang heeft doormaakt de afgelopen veertig jaar. De hang naar vroegere glorie, het verdwijnen van banen in de industriële sector, achterlopende scholing en onderwijs en een vergrijzende witte bevolking hebben mogelijk bijgedragen tot het referendumresultaat in 2016 toen Birmingham als enige grote metropool, nipt, voor Brexit koos. De West-Midlands als geheel hadden het grootste pro-Leave percentage van alle Britse regio’s.

Hier volgen enkele artikelen die ik voor Trouw heb gedaan in de aanloop naar Brexit.