COVID-19 has rendered Europe’s right-wing parties all but obsolete, at least in the near-term. Nationalist parties like Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, “Alternative for Germany”) and the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV, “Party for Freedom”) had built their electoral clout upon anti-migration sentiment. But the centrists have robed themselves in new patriotic colors, robbing the nationalists in Western Europe of...
In 2002 the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize euthanasia, formalizing what had been tolerated by the government for several decades prior. Today, however, the Dutch practice of euthanasia is arguably less settled legally than ever before. In September, a doctor was found not guilty of breaking the law after administering...
The afternoon of Monday, August 19, I was at home in my apartment in the city center of São Paulo. Glancing out the window, I noticed the sky was unusually dark. I figured it was about to rain, so I told my children we had to cancel our trip to the park. I thought no...
Jair Bolsonaro’s election to the presidency of Brazil last year provoked a media meltdown similar to Donald Trump’s victory in 2016. Just as in the U.S., journalists in Brazil and abroad predicted the “Trump of the Tropics” was akin to the second coming of Hitler, ushering in the end of democracy, revoking gay rights, and...
On Thursday January 17, news broke in the Netherlands that a Dutch journalist had been expelled from Turkey. Ans Boersma, 31, had been detained the day before in Istanbul when she applied to renew her residence visa. In a last-ditch attempt to help her, a group of her colleagues brought a lawyer to the police...
South Africa has rarely been out of the headlines in 2018. In late February, the South African government voted to amend the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land from white farmers without compensation. The vote put an international spotlight on the many problems plaguing the country. In January, President Donald Trump was reported...
What do you do when people favor your ideas but your party is shut out of government? That’s the dilemma faced by the far right in the Netherlands. The Party for Freedom (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, settled for second place in the national election held in March. Forum for Democracy (FVD), a new far-right...
A sign hangs in the waiting room of my doctor’s office. It advises patients how many appointments were missed in the previous month and how many work hours this cost the staff. The practice has no recourse against patients who fail to turn up. There was no cost for the appointment in the first place. ...
“I think Boris honestly sees it as churlish of us not to regard him as an exception—one who should be free of the network of obligation that binds everyone else.” These words were written by a housemaster at Eton College about a young student named Boris Johnson. Today, over 30 years later, Johnson seems to...
Of course Scotland won’t leave the United Kingdom. That was the conventional wisdom when the referendum on Scottish independence was announced two years ago. But today no one is quite certain what the outcome will be. The referendum is scheduled for September 18, and polls indicate that a majority of Scots favor staying in the...
This summer, as U.K. schoolchildren go on vacation, their school buildings will become hives of activity. Construction workers will descend in droves to overhaul kitchens and dining halls. These need to be refitted for a major new purpose. Starting in September, state primary schools will be serving free hot lunches to all pupils in their...
Last May, an unnamed friend of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was quoted referring to the Conservative Party’s base as “mad, swivel-eyed loons.” This extraordinary outburst illustrates the extent of the rift between Cameron and a large section of his party. Cameron and his progressive followers have never been a good fit for the Conservative...
“Today is the beginning of the liberation from the European elite, the monster in Brussels.” These are strong words. But they are not surprising coming from Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom and a man known for his rhetorical flourishes. He was speaking at a joint press conference with Marine Le...
Viviane Reding is a woman on a mission. She believes Europe’s major companies are run by an old boys’ network that excludes female colleagues from top jobs. And since Reding is the E.U. commissioner for justice, fundamental rights, and citizenship, she is in a position to do something about it. She has proposed a quota...
A nine-year-old boy has caused the simmering tension between Western Europeans and Muslim immigrants to boil over once again. This latest incident has occurred in the Netherlands, which over the past decade has become the poster child for failed Muslim integration. A boy named Yunus, born in the Netherlands to Turkish-Muslim immigrant parents, lives in...
The British tabloids couldn’t get enough of it. Photos of Prince William wearing multiple large gold chains, a baggy track suit, a baseball cap, and a menacing sneer on his face were splashed across their front pages. To the British, it was immediately clear that the prince was dressed up as a “chav.” Like most...