As the new #academic year beckons, I'm preparing new lectures and materials, including on the EU single market. The irony that I, as a British citizen, may not be allowed to work in the EU without a visa post-March isn't lost on me.
Given that the UK will be days away from leaving the @DSMeu when I deliver one of the lectures... on the #digital#singlemarket it's going to call for some agile teaching because I have no doubt the UK government will still be making it up as they go along as they have thus far.
However, whatever the stress caused by this, my thoughts will be with fellow British lecturers, academics & researchers in the EU27 and EU27 lecturers, academics & researchers in the UK who do not know their future.
It might seem odd but, for us, our year doesn't start in January but it starts next month and so we do not know if we will survive the end of it.
The whole thing is ridiculous. And our potentially final countdown starts now.
Google+, you burst on to the #socialmedia scene like a comet. A rubbish comet in a fermement of amazing comets but a comet nonetheless. As others said you were wonderful & important, selling their services on the back of you, I said you were rubbish. I take my share of the blame.
As you became a wasteground, we continued to see the charlatans say you were a vital part of the #socialmedia spend. You weren't. #Search was always more important - along with the other social networks. #Google does so many things so amazingly well but this was never one of them
But it seems to be that you lived your life like a candle in the wind,
slowly going nowhere while the Twitter gleamed
And I would have liked to know you
But you were just too bad
Your candle burned out long before
The budget ever did.
The #PeoplesVote is the Politicians' Referendum. And here's why ...
Different countries use referendums in different ways. At one end of the spectrum, we have the lovely Switzerland who have decided they want a system of referendums for just about everything...
...at the other end of the spectrum, you've for Britain which, as a rule, doesn't do referendums.
BRITISH CITIZENS LIVING IN THE EU27. THIS CONCERNS YOU!
@theresa_may's awful government will not go the distance - it will fall and there will be an election - possibly even a #PeoplesVote. REGISTER TO VOTE NOW! Let's have our revenge!
If you have been living abroad for less than 15 years, you can vote. All you need is your last UK address and your national insurance number. It's simple. No forms, no finding people to sign stuff or make declarations.
By the way, every time I mention voting, some gammon pops up and moans about British citizens overseas being able to vote. Well, here's the world's smallest violin just for you.
You didn't support us. You threw us under the bus. Now we get our turn. 👍
Back in 1989/90, the Community Charge was introduced by Margaret Thatcher in Scotland and then England and Wales. You probably remember it as the Poll Tax. Despite it being hugely unpopular, Maggie pressed ahead with the policy.
Maggie's argument was that the people had voted for the policy - after all, it had been in the Tory manifesto that had given her another landslide - so she had to deliver it and they could not change their minds.
There were protests and some of them were pretty violent. Maggie said that there was no way that she would back down from the policy. Meanwhile, Tory MPs were hearing the upset from ordinary voters in their constituencies.
I rarely directly share stuff from the British expat groups on Facebook as they are closed groups but I wanted you to see this. This is what we are up against.
In France, we have no effective consular support. @UKinFrance is awful.
The Ambassador himself does nothing to protect the interests of British citizens living here. The staff have been holding utterly pointless meetings where they parrot the UK government line without listening.
The UK embassy in Paris is the cushiest job in the diplomatic service. Great offices, well paid, plenty of receptions, dinners and events. The lot. Once you are in it, you are on Easy Street, riding the gravy train on biscuit wheels. No need to DO anything.