The week already began on a pessimistic note. On Monday, Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European Commission, confessed his personal fears of the European project being torpedoed by rising nationalism. He talked of a perfect storm gathering, with the…
It’s time to rekindle the old debate about religion and politics. Only this time let’s talk about ‘spirituality’ and politics. Which, for some reason, seems more cool and less offensive. Not that there’s any real difference except in popular perception,…
‘Having ignored its inheritance, Europe wonders why its house is falling apart’. A recent Wall Street Journal article with this sub-title claimed Europeans no longer believed in the things from which their beliefs sprang: Judaism and Christianity; liberalism and the…
Angela Merkel’s recent response to a question about fear of Europe’s increasing Islamisation sparked a media frenzy condemning her as a naïve traitor, or praising her as a compassionate angel. The German weekly Der Spiegel depicted her as a misguided…
Overshadowed by the refugee crisis since the summer, Ukraine was back in the headlines last week. The Dutch Safety Board presented the long-awaited conclusions of its 15-month investigation into the Flight MH17 crash on 17 July last year: the Malaysian…
