On Sunday 23 May 2021 the world has witnessed a unique event. A civilian airliner, Ryanair 4978, on its way from Athens in Greece to Vilnius in Lithuania, was forced to land in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. Obviously supported by the Russian Secret Service, this action served only one single purpose: to catch a […]
Write to us at editor@westenglandbylines.co.uk When Big Ben rang in the New Year at midnight on 31 December 2020 it sounded the death knell of the transition period, the end of the UK’s membership of the Single Market and the start of the hard Brexit most were dreading. The first few months of 2021 have been […]
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, […]
Rural communities are a small proportion of our society, with only 17% of people living in rural areas in the UK, including myself. However isolation and loneliness are real issues for many in these communities. The pandemic has highlighted this isolation further and our post-Covid recovery offers a clear opportunity to tackle these issues. The […]
In addition to the disorderly handling of Covid-19, the UK is experiencing the worst economic crisis since the 1970s. With job opportunities dwindling, an increasing number of graduates and skilled workers tell me they are considering leaving the country. The phenomenon is made worse by the consequences of Brexit. The outcome has prompted tens of […]
“British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and to settle down.” Boris Johnson, Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2016 A short boat trip across Mirabella Bay from the upmarket resort of Elounda in Crete gets you to the island of Spinalonga, […]
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 […]