One week a year, Sweden’s political buzz moves to the island of Gotland. Last year, a violent Nazi organisation attacked gay-right activists, so this year RFSL has chosen not to attend.
RFSL is the abbreviation for the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Rights.
Farange and his fellow dimwits in the Brexit party today turned their backs on musicians playing Beethoven during opening ceremony in the European Parliament.
The European Council has nominated the following to the top job in the European Union:
The European Parliament has chosen David Sassoli (Italy) as its president.
The Parliament now has to approve the Council’s nominees.
Trump really likes the dictator style. From The Economist:
In a major break with tradition, he is putting himself at the centre of the action on July 4th, having promised on Twitter, “an address by your favourite President, me!” He will begin with a speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Before him, a large section of the Mall will have been cordoned off for spectators with tickets, handed out by the White House. Mr Trump’s address will kick off a “Salute to America” event that will be strongly militaristic in tone.
“The former Conservative minister Ann Widdecombe has likened the UK’s departure from the EU to the emancipation of slaves,” Daniel Boffey of the Guardian reports.
Mayor Femke Halsema says she’s not opposed to prostitution, but the increasing number of tourists behaving badly in the neighbourhood, Gordon Darroch of Dutch News reports.
From Aristotle’s Poetics:
Comedy is an imitation of characters of a lower type—not, however, in the full sense of the word bad, the ludicrous being merely a subdivision of the ugly. It consists in some defect or ugliness which is not painful or destructive. To take an obvious example, the comic mask is ugly and distorted, but does not imply pain.
So, if The Times is right, we’ll have yet another egotistical liar poisoning world politics.
The New Democracy party retains lead in one of the last polls before the election, Ekathimerini reports. If correct, this is good news for Europe.
Tension between transgender folk and women casts a shadow over London Pride, The Economist writes. It’s sad, but true.
Some good news from Greece. Ekathimerini writes:
Golden Dawn, the neo-Nazi, anti-immigrant party that had shocked Greek politics by evolving from a marginal group into Greece’s third-largest party during the country’s economic crisis, was knocked out of Parliament in Sunday’s national election.
American artist Mark Jenkins has placed realistic mannequins in cities to mess with people. It makes a hilarious book.
A headmaster in Florida appears to defend Holocaust deniers. When asked by a parent how his school teaches about the Nazi atrocity he wrote that “not everyone believes the Holocaust happened”, Nina Golgowski of Huffington Post reports.
“The wacky Ambassador that the UK foisted upon the United States is not someone we are thrilled with, a very stupid guy,” Donald Trump tweets. In response to leaked memoranda that labels Trump’s administration “inept” and “dysfunctional”.
“In an historic decision, the House of Commons voted 383-73 in favour of a clause to extend same-sex marriage to Northern Ireland,” Reiss Smith of Pink News writes.
The populist leader seems fond of the mini-BOT (Bill of Treasury). From The Economist:
Although Mr Salvini and other ministers have since the election said they have no plans to leave the euro, occasional noise from others adds confusion. On May 28th the parliament passed a non-binding motion asking the government to consider issuing “mini-BOTs”, low-value bills designed to help the state pay commercial suppliers. The clause on mini-BOTs had reportedly been inserted into the motion at the last minute, catching many lawmakers unawares. Claudio Borghi, a Euro-sceptic League economist and close adviser to Mr Salvini who heads parliament’s finance committee, has previously argued that mini-BOTs could be “spent anywhere to buy anything”, raising suspicion that they would act as a parallel currency in preparation for leaving the euro. As investors became uneasy, Giovanni Tria, the finance minister, was forced to respond, attempting to rule out the idea. But Mr Salvini has said he still considers it an option.
It’s not just Trump now. Is the world abandoning meritocracy? Dom Phillips of the Guardian writes:
“Brazilian diplomats have reacted with scorn and dismay to reports that Jair Bolsonaro wants to make his son Eduardo the country’s ambassador to the US, despite his lack of diplomatic experience.”
In 2018, Sweden outlawed sex without explicit consent. Such sex is now considered rape. Catherine Edwards of The Local has talked to experts to find out the impact this has had on court cases and within Swedish society.
It’s the sad world we live in now—America’s president posts racist tweets. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite has the story.
The Bank of England writes:
Alan Turing provided the theoretical underpinnings for the modern computer. While best known for his work devising code-breaking machines during WWII, Turing played a pivotal role in the development of early computers first at the National Physical Laboratory and later at the University of Manchester. He set the foundations for work on artificial intelligence by considering the question of whether machines could think. Turing was homosexual and was posthumously pardoned by the Queen having been convicted of gross indecency for his relationship with a man. His legacy continues to have an impact on both science and society today.
Every years, numerous gay people are traumatised and killed by inhumane pseudoscientific conversion therapy, a result of uncured homophobia.
Oliver Holmes of the Guardian has the story.
The European Parliament made a historic decision today.
“With 383 votes in favour, just over the minimum of 374 required, von der Leyen secured a narrow majority win and will now replace incumbent Jean-Claude Juncker at the start of November,” Nikolaj Nielsen of the EU Observer writes.
| Moderate Party | 17% |
| Liberal Party | 5.7% |
| Centre Party | 9.5% |
| Christian Democrats | 9.2% |
| Social Democrats | 25.6% |
| Left Party | 8.9% |
| Green Party | 4.7% |
| Sweden Democrats | 18% |
Trump phones Sweden’s prime minister on behalf of jailed rapper, Daily Mail reports. It’s absurd, but I guess it’s logical for a president whose only merit is being a TV celebrity.
A gay man in the small nation of Dominica has challenged the country’s ban on homosexuality, Oscar Lopez of Reuters reports.
In the midst of Brirain’s Boris frenzy, Peter Walker of the Guardian reports that Jo Swinson has been elected new leader of the Liberal Democrats. It could be good news for Europe.
Boris Johnson will succeed Theresa May as Britain’s next prime minister after beating Jeremy Hunt by winning the party-members vote contest by 92,153 votes to 46,656, Heather Stewart of the Guardian reports.
Sarah Whitten of CNBC has made the list:
Toby Young expresses a severe case of bromance in Quillette. And yes, it’s about Boris.
It’s hot.
“Until yesterday, the previous heat record was 40.3 degrees and was measured in the summer of 2015 in Kitzingen, Bavaria,” The Local writes.
This just might be the stupidest homophobic statement I’ve read. Richard Hartley-Parkinson of Metro News has the story.
The new Leader of the House of Commons is not nicknamed “the Honourable Member for the 18th Century” for nothing. Interestingly, many of his rules are contrary to both Oxford and Cambridge rules. There are no punctuation marks in abbreviations.
Paul Brand of ITV News has the story.
“Boris Johnson is refusing to sit down for talks with EU leaders until they agree to ditch the Irish backstop from the Brexit withdrawal agreement,” the Guardian reports.
The leader of Sinn Féin tells Boris Johnson that it would be unthinkable if a no-deal Brexit was not followed by a poll on Irish reunification, Peter Walker and Jessica Elgot of the Guardian report.
I love The Local’s “Swedish word of the day” column. In this one, Catherine Edwards explains the word svinvarmt.
“Faced with a British government intent on ratcheting up talk of no deal, other European governments have no choice but to prepare for the worst,” Guy Verhofstadt writes in the Guardian.
