Dutch in the UK

23 January 20187 November 2018Angelina 1 Comment

Someone posted the following on Twitter:

I have decided to leave the uk. I am ill with anxiety and stress because of brexit hanging over me like a giant sword. Being a eu citizen in this country is hell. I leave behind my wife and grown up children. Also our memories, house my dogs. This is breaking my heart

— Corne Sgroot (@corne1966) January 23, 2018

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Two responses from Brits:

absolutely appalling..sir…we British(remainers)and many others feel “same”..my country&identify EU citizenship has been “stolen”..It’s been taken over by Nazis.

— clive williams (@vespasian91) January 23, 2018

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I’m appalled by UK govt. Utterly disgusted and I want nothing more to do with UK. I just hope my Dutch naturalisation goes through. Really sorry for you.

— Michael #FBPE Livid (@MichRugbyZwolle) January 23, 2018

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Brachycephalic dogs

23 January 201830 January 2018Angelina Leave a comment

These are essentially fashion accessories. That the dogs are live animals who are bred to look cute and that this means that they have trouble breathing does not matter to anyone who sees a dog as a fashion accessory – or a faithful adoring admirer – but it should.

There are other side effects, such as frequent skin infections.

https://www.bva.co.uk/news-campaigns-and-policy/policy/companion-animals/brachycephalic-dogs/

WARNING. I am jargon-averse and have three modes of reasoning: scholarly / theoretical / pensive (thinker) + practical / (pro)active / energetic (doer) + tired (“off”). Below are some links.

Author

Amsterdam American Business Club

Member April 2003 – end 2008

COVID-19: APHA, NAM, STAT, etc

2020: Various APHA webinars that count as CE, including topics like health disparities
2020: Various webinars (STAT, Digital Digest, NAM, etc) about topics such as also the food situation in the UK

Geochemical Society (US-based)

Newsletter editor Dec 1998 – Feb 2010

Law (English): HarvardX Law School, pro se/LIP (UK) etc

2015: From Trust to Promise to Contract

(You need to be logged in to access my profile.)

Royal Netherlands Chemical Society

Board member Environmental Chemistry (and Toxicology) Section Mar 2001 – Sep 2004

Taking the Lead

Advanced Learners Course 2010-2011 (Take Part)
Member Portsmouth Environmental Forum Mar 2009 – Aug 2010 (dismantled)

Toastmasters International

Member Toastmasters of The Hague Apr 2003 – Jul 2004

Bioethics – the ethics of everyday life

Various other organizations (such as Dutch KNGMG and American Geophysical Union)

Former member, for 10 to 20 years; I let go of my memberships some time after I moved to the UK

ON STIGMAS IN THE UK
On rainy days (so to speak), I am a stupid old cow who is delusional about her capabilities, as she imagines she went to university yet cannot even be trusted to figure out how to operate a coffeemaker.

Yes, I am often demonised for being female and over the age of 35 or 45 and, perhaps worst of all, not married. This is common in the UK, sadly. It’s not merely my personal experience; there is plenty of research that found that this is widespread in the UK.

On top of that, I’m a migrant, hence from a banana republic (because all countries except the UK are developing countries), a liar, probably also a drug addict and definitely low-skilled. That’s what the UK government says, too.

Britain is riddled with stigmas.

Stigmatisation due to any kind of otherness isn’t funny. It’s deeply hurtful and immensely detrimental to health, just to mention two effects. It results in marginalisation and poverty.

It’s also highly damaging to the UK’s economy and to British society as a whole. I believe it’s directly related to this quintessentially English “class” thing, this division into real people and people who can be treated as if they are, say, plastic bottles or tennis balls, in the eyes of many people in Britain.

I think that the 19th-century British doctrine of “utilitarianism” is at least partly to blame for that. It makes other people expendable as long as you declare them less worthy. I discuss it in my book “We need to talk about this“.

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