KNOWING ABOUT THIS..

BLOG – KNOWING ABOUT THIS https://knowing-about-this.blogspot.com   Niels Jørgen Thøgersen niels4europe@gmail.com   TOPICS: ·        About Belgium ·        Hamburg – about the coming elections ·        About Schleswig-Holstein 1864-1920 ·        About Slovakia ·        Hamburg – about the election results 23 02 2020 ·        How EUROPA was beating Playboy in 1995 ·        Go voting – Slovakia elections ·        Corona – and Manneken Pis ·        A Dane should never work for a Swede ·        Follow-up to three elections ·        Free public transportation ·        FR...

Now, it should not all be negative and frightening - when the Corona is concerned.  A former American teacher in Wisconsin, Kitty O'Meara, has written a poem to all us, who now have to stay home for some time. The poem has gone viral worldwide - almost faster than the virus itself. I think it is a very interesting and stimulating poem. So I could not resist the temptation to send it to you: And the People Stayed Home.... ~ Kitty O'Meara  ( American from Wisconsin ) And the people stayed home, and read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently. And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to he...

Now it is Belgium’s turn. As of today at 12 o’clock we have a country-wide curfew. It lasts (at least) until April 5.   It means that we are all asked to stay at home.   If we have to work, it should be tele-working . And only if that is not possible it is allowed to go to work.  You are also allowed to go shopping . And for many of us even more important:  you are allowed to go for a walk, a run or go biking .  But only alone or together with one person more from your family at a time or a neighbour.  And we are not only allowed to do that. The authorities encourage us to do it!  No meetings or get-togethers with several people are allowed. The schools, but not the kindergartens, are closed. Markets are closed. Public transport is working, but with reduced capacity. All planes in Brussels Airlines will be grounded as of Saturday. But the airport remains open.   And important is that the borders to other countries remain open , ...

My special comments today will reflect upon what we all perhaps can and should learn from this world-wide crisis : 1.       Politics :   perhaps political parties who are normally in almost permanent dispute can learn to work closer together. Example:  in Belgium the political parties have now negotiated for ten months about a new government – without success. But now there is a large majority in parliament for supporting the present provisional government under P.M. Sophie Wilmès to go on for six months and with a strong mandate to fight the corona-virus, also if necessary with decrees without going through parliament. 2.       EU : many people ask, why the EU is not mobilising all its forces to combat the virus. The answer is simple:  EU does not have competence in the health sector – or very few.  This is a national competence .  Perhaps it is worth thinking about whether this is the best way ...

In continuation of yesterday I want to tell more about the ongoing Corona pandemic – and also about earlier pandemics in history. The situation according to figures from yesterday is as follows: Europe :       Number of infected:  39.768   Number of deaths:   1.727  ( esp. in Italy ) Denmark :   Number of infected:  864         Number of deaths:   1 PS: TODAY's good news:   The Danish Red Cross has started a project to find volunteers, who will help people in isolation or who are ill with practical problems such as shopping, etc.  And about 6.000 people volunteered immediately.  Perhaps the Red Cross or other organisations are doing the same in other countries. A very good idea! The WHO has given the Corona pandemic this name:  Covid-19 .  It is an abbreviation of:  Corona Infection Desease 2019 ( ...

The corona situation in Europe  ( figures from yesterday, March 14): Number of infected:   34.790 Number of deaths:     1.501 One of our friends made yesterday a good suggestion on how to limit huge panic shopping in food stores : Remove all trolleys and give one basket to each client ! Some of you have asked for information about other pandemics during the centuries .  Enclosed what I wrote earlier about the Black Death / the Plague in the 14th century.  It shows that it was very different from the present situation - fortunately. The Black Death / The Plague:   It was hitting Europe in the middle of the 14th century.  It was a bacterological desease, not a flu.  It started in the Hubei province in China - the same place where the coronavirus started.  And it spread to the West with the Huns and their armies - and also with the Trade Caravans going to the Middle East via the Silk Road.  The first known epidemy ...

I have been asked, if there are more EU agencies than the ones I have written about recently, such as EUROPOL and EUROJUST in The Hague, ECDC ( European Centre for Decease Prevention and Control ) in Frölunda near Stockholm, FRONTEX in Warsaw, etc. The answer is yes.   There are today altogether 40 different EU agencies. They are all part of the EU. And their headquarters are based in almost all member states. One of the first was the European Environment Agency in Copenhagen. It started in 1993.   Its purpose is to provide independent information and evaluations about environmental issues and in this way contribute actively to EU activities related to environment. The number of EU regulations and directives in this area is now about 500. The purpose of all these EU agencies is like for the Copenhagen agency to provide information and analysis of importance to the work of the EU in many different fields. In some cases the agencies are also responsible for the p...