In early December, speaking at a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesvos, Pope Francis called for nations to welcome strangers at their door. One man who spent decades doing exactly that, his efforts praised by the Pope on Italian national television, now faces a prison sentence of thirteen years for his efforts. Domenico […]
Domenico ‘Mimmo’ Lucano, the former mayor whose efforts to integrate refugees into his small town of Riace in Calabria brought global recognition, was sentenced on 30 September 2021 at the court in Locri to thirteen years and two months in prison. He was also requested to repay €500,000 provided by the EU and the Italian […]
We need politicians and big business to act decisively and immediately on climate change, but individuals can make a difference too.
Write to us at editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk Why would anyone learn a foreign language just now? For the moment we can’t travel beyond our shores, and we’ve lost the freedom of movement within Europe that we enjoyed as part of the EU. Besides, doesn’t everyone speak English? Well actually they don’t, and anyway, even if you never left […]
Write to us at editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk Could there be a better way to get to Europe than the Eurostar? It’s an easy journey from St Pancras to the heart of Paris (two hours twenty minutes) or Brussels (just over two hours). From there the whole of our endlessly fascinating continent, a cornucopia of landscapes, architecture, languages, climates, […]
In the two decades up to 2018 more than 6,000 refugees passed through the small town of Riace in Calabria. A good number made their home there. Riace, like much of the Italian south, had for many years suffered depopulation as young people left in search of a better life, leaving behind a predominantly elderly […]
No one can have been unmoved by the image of three year old Alan Kurdi, drowned on the last stretch of the family’s flight from war in Syria to safety in the European Union. Thousands fleeing war, persecution, poverty and the chaos of changing climate have died in the attempt to cross the Mediterranean. Human […]
To protect the quality of our food, the Lords have voted for a crucial amendment to the Agriculture Bill to enshrine in law the principle that food imports should meet domestic standards. This is strongly supported by the National Farmers Union (NFU) and by the British Veterinary Association (BVA). See Food Manufacture 24 September 2020. […]
Can we make something really positive out of the global tragedy of Covid-19? We are in a climate emergency. We have to make big cuts in our carbon emissions. Transport powered by fossil fuel is a massive contributor to an individual’s carbon footprint. During the lockdown, largely thanks to car use plummeting, our air was […]