From Brefusal to Brexit (The Guardian)

Read this interesting summary published in today's Guardian:

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From Brefusal to Brexit: a history of Britain in the EU

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After 47 years and 30 days it is all over. As the clock strikes 11pm on Friday, the UK is officially divorced from the EU and will begin trying to carve out a new global role as a sovereign nation. It was a union that got off to a tricky start and continued to be marked by the UK’s sometimes conflicted relationship with its neighbours. Here’s a run-through the beginning, the middle and the end.

1961

Brefusal

The French president, Charles de Gaulle, vetoes Britain’s entry to EEC, accusing the UK of a “deep-seated hostility” towards the European project.

1975

Brentry

Sir Edward Heath signs the accession treaty giving entry to the EEC in an official ceremony that was accompanied by a torch-lit rally, dickie-bowed officials and a procession of political leaders including former prime ministers Harold Macmillan and Alec Douglas-Home.
Lisa O'Carroll

1975

Referendum

The UK decides to stay in the common market after 67% voted "yes". Margaret Thatcher, later to be leader of the Conservative party, campaigned to remain.

1984

'Give us our money back'

Margaret Thatcher negotiated what became known as the UK rebate with other EU members after the "iron lady" marched into the former French royal palace at Fontainebleau to demand “our own money back” claiming for every £2 contributed we get only £1 back” despite being one of the “three poorer” members of the community.

It was a move that sowed the seeds of Tory Euroscepticism that was to later cause the Brexit schism in the party. 

1988

The Bruges speech

Thatcher served notice on the EU community in a defining moment in EU politics in which she questioned the expansionist plans of Jacques Delors, who had remarked that 80% of all decisions on economic and social policy would be made by the European Community within 10 years with a European government in “embryo”. That was a bridge too far for Thatcher.

1989

The cold war ends

Collapse of Berlin wall and fall of communism in eastern Europe, which would later lead to expansion of EU.

1990

'No, no, no'

Divisions between the UK and the EU deepened with Thatcher telling the Commons in an infamous speech it was ‘no, no, no’ to what she saw as Delors’ continued power grab. Rupert Murdoch’s Sun newspaper ratchets up its opposition to Europe with a two-fingered “Up yours Delors” front page.

1992

Black Wednesday

A collapse in the pound forced prime minister John Major and the then chancellor Norman Lamont to pull the UK out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism.

1993

The single market

On 1 January, customs checks and duties were removed across the bloc. Thatcher hailed the vision of “a single market without barriers – visible or invisible – giving you direct and unhindered access to the purchasing power of over 300 million of the world’s wealthiest and most prosperous people".

1993

Maastricht treaty

Tory rebels vote against the treaty that paved the way for the creation of the European Union. John Major won the vote the following day in a pyrrhic victory. 

1997

Repairing the relationship

Tony Blair patches up the relationship. Signs up to social charter and workers' rights.

31 January 1999

Ukip

Nigel Farage elected an MEP and immediately goes on the offensive in Brussels. “Our interests are best served by not being a member of this club,” he said in his maiden speech. “The level playing field is about as level as the decks of the Titanic after it hit an iceberg.”

2003

The euro

Chancellor Gordon Brown decides the UK will not join the euro.

2004

EU enlarges to to include eight countries of the former eastern bloc including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

2007

EU expands again, allowing Romania and Bulgaria into the club.

2015

Migrant crisis

Anti-immigration hysteria seems to take hold with references to “cockroches” by Katie Hopkins in the Sun and tabloid headlines such as “How many more can we take?” and “Calais crisis: send in the dogs”.

February 2016

 David Cameron returns with reform package.

June 2016

Brexit referendum

January 2020

Britain leaves the EU

The Britons getting out before Brexit ‘drawbridge’ goes up

UK nationals rush to settle in Spain before they lose their rights as EU citizens on 31 December

Campaigners for the rights of British nationals in Spain have reported a rise in the number of inquiries from people rushing through plans to establish residency in the country before the Brexit “drawbridge goes up”.

Sue Wilson, the founder of campaign group Bremain in Spain, says now that Brexit is “concrete and is happening” they are seeing evidence of Britons “expediting their plans” for retirement or a career move to Spain.

Under the withdrawal agreement British nationals can settle in another EU member state right up to 31 December and claim lifetime rights as EU citizens.

“We have people inquiring what the rules are and we are saying to people that as long as they move before 31 December they will have the same rights as those of us who are already here. It is in the withdrawal agreement,” says Wilson.

“Even if you haven’t reached pension age and you have paid in for enough years to make you eligible you will have the right to an uprated pension for life under the withdrawal agreement.”

Not all rights are guaranteed and the campaign group British in Europe has urged Brussels and London to secure those that have yet to be negotiated, which include freedom of movement and the right to return to the UK with an EU family member after Brexit. But the rights to study, work and retire remain for those moving before 2021.

We spoke to some who have already taken the plunge.

Andrew Dutton, 51, Elviria, Costa del Sol

Property executive

“I did a spreadsheet at 4am in the morning and concluded that we could probably go now and that’s exactly what we did,” he says.

Andy and his wife sold their house and upped sticks from Manchester to Spain in October.

“We had always planned to retire out here, then Brexit put that into stark relief. The way that had been implemented put the fear of God into us, really, in terms of getting out here,” says Andy.

“I had the vague idea of retiring somewhere between 55 and 60. We have a strict budget and I’ll have to work but we’re glad we did it. We didn’t like the rhetoric and the type of deal people like Dominic Raab was talking about didn’t seem to stack up. There was nobody to talk to – you couldn’t ring the government and ask: ‘Is this the position? Is this cast in stone? Can we trust you?’

“We are not economic migrants. We considered Australia many years ago but in terms of employment it’s more complicated. The freedom of movement is key. You can cross a border into France, Spain without even noticing and you have the ability to work with no questions asked. That’s why we chose to become residents here.

“Emotionally it’s quite difficult. The biggest step has been leaving all the friends and family and you want them here with you. Three months in there are days when you do feel homesick but there is Facetime and Skype.”

But he and his wife have no regrets. “Our fear was the drawbridge would go up and the rights we had pre-Brexit wouldn’t be there.”

(...)                                                                                                 The Guardian, 30 Jan 2020

If you want to read more testimonies, click here: The Britons in Spain

Coronavirus: death toll doubles to 17 as China struggles to halt spread

Seventeen people have now died from the mysterious Sars-like coronavirus, Chinese authorities have said, as the government unveiled measures to rein in the spread of the disease and advised residents of Wuhan not to leave the city.

The figure, announced by the provincial government of the central province of Hubei, where the virus is believed to have originated, almost doubles the previous fly estimated death toll.

Earlier on Wednesday, China’s national health commission said nine people had died from the virus, which is mainly passed through the respiratory tract. More than 470 people have contracted the virus.

China is in the midst of a public health crisis as a new strain of coronavirus, from the family of viruses that gave rise to Sars, has swept the country. Officials said the nation was now at the most critical stage of prevention and control, especially as China prepares to celebrate the lunar new year on 25 January and hundreds of millions will criss-cross the country.

“Spring festival is just around the corner … which objectively increases the risk of the disease spreading and the difficulty of prevention and control. We must not be careless, and we must be highly vigilant,” said Li Bin, deputy director of the commission.

“The virus may mutate, and there is a risk of further spread of the virus,” he said. The public have been advised to avoid densely populated areas.

The World Health Organization is convening an emergency meeting on Wednesday to decide whether the virus should be deemed a global public health emergency.

In the last week, the number of confirmed infections has more than tripled and cases have been found in 13 provinces, as well as the municipalities Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The deaths have all taken place in Hubei province. The commission said more than 2,000 close contacts have been identified and more than 1,000 were under current medical watch.

Li said the increase in cases was the result of deeper understanding of the disease and improvements in screening for it. Wuhan, the central Chinese city in Hubei province where the outbreak is believed to have originated in a market, has been put under tighter supervision, Li said, with the sale of live poultry banned. Wild animals and poultry are no longer allowed in the city, he said.

Lily Kuo in Beijing

The Guardian, 22 Jan 2020

Connected but alone?

Watch this interesting Ted Talk by the psychologist Sherry Turkle and answer the questions I gave you in class. We'll go through them next Tuesday.

Healthy habits extend disease-free life 'by up to a decade'

Lifestyle keeps cardiovascular disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes at bay, research finds.

Healthy habits such as drinking in moderation, staying slim and exercising for at least 30 minutes a day could extend people’s disease-free life by up to a decade, research suggests.

Experts found that people who led a healthy lifestyle could expect to enjoy many more years of good health than those who smoked, drank too much or were overweight.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, included data for more than 110,000 people and looked specifically at cardiovascular disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.

Researchers, including from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, looked at five “low-risk” healthy habits – never smoking, a healthy body mass index (BMI) of 18 to 25, moderate to vigorous physical activity for at least 30 minutes per day (including brisk walking), moderate alcohol intake and a healthy diet.

Moderate alcohol intake was regarded as 5g to 15g of pure alcohol per day for women (one unit of alcohol has 8g of pure alcohol, so 15g is about one 175ml glass of wine), and 5g to 30g per day of alcohol for men (30g is about 1.5 pints of beer).

The team then looked at life expectancy free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, and how many more disease-free years people could expect from the age of 50.

The results showed that women leading a healthy lifestyle (adopting four or five healthy living factors) had a disease-free life expectancy at 50 of 34.4 more years, taking them to the age of 84 without diabetes, cancer or heart disease.

This compared with just 23.7 more years of disease-free life expectancy from 50 for women who had not adopted any of the elements of a healthy lifestyle.

For men aged 50, those who adopted four or five healthy living factors could expect a further 31.1 years free from disease, compared with just 23.5 years for men who had no healthy lifestyle behaviours.

Men who smoked more than 15 cigarettes a day, and obese men and women (with a BMI over 30) had the worst chances of living a life free from disease.

The researchers concluded: “We observed that adherence to a low-risk lifestyle was associated with a longer life expectancy at age 50 free of major chronic diseases of approximately 7.6 years in men and 10 years in women compared with participants with no low-risk lifestyle factors.

“Public policies for improving food and the physical environment conducive to adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle, as well as relevant policies and regulations (for example, smoking bans in public places or trans fat restrictions) are critical to improving life expectancy, especially life expectancy free of major chronic diseases.”

Dr Kate Allen, executive director of science and public affairs at the World Cancer Research Fund, said: “This new, large study further confirms our own research that having a healthy lifestyle lowers your risk of cancer and other diseases.

“We hope the government will be persuaded by the mounting evidence, and take bold, positive steps to protect the nation’s health by making our environments healthier, so that it is easier for people to make healthy choices.

“This includes a 9pm watershed on junk food advertising, subsidies on healthy food to make them more affordable, and better urban design that encourages walking and cycling over driving.”

Prof Jonathan Valabhji, clinical director for diabetes and obesity for the NHS, said: “Expanding waistlines are damaging for both the health of the nation and the NHS – leading to a string of dangerous diseases with a heavy cost for taxpayers.

“The NHS long term plan is playing its part through a range of ambitious actions – including piloting low-calorie diets which have been shown can put type 2 diabetes into remission – but people can take simple common sense steps to lead longer and healthier lives.”

                                                                                              The Guardian, 8th January 2020

Happy new year!