Global HIV statistics:

• 26 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy as of the end of June 2020.
• 38 million people globally were living with HIV in 2019.
• 1.7 million people became newly infected with HIV in 2019.
• 690,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2019.
• 76 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.
• 33 million people have died from AIDS-related illnesses since the start of the epidemic.

Things are getting better, but I miss my lost friends.

Tuesday morning, it’s a cold winter morning in Malmö. I wish I was in Gran Canaria. Subzero temperatures are not for me.

A new analysis suggests the goals of the UN Paris climate agreement are getting within reach, BBC reports. Good news!

Truth-based media is the vaccine, the Guardian claims. I’m not sure the media will an effective vaccine, but it’s most certainly a welcome break from the media-bashing attitudes seen in the White House in recent years.

Scientists explore the potential connection between black and white holes. No, it has nothing to do with blackheads and whiteheads!

“I am so deep into boredom that I have burrowed beneath the previously accepted boundaries of the concept, and have now emerged, apathetically, into post-boredom,” Joel Golby writes in the Guardian.

I know some will label Credit Suisse’s LGBT-350 as identity politics—which is the term stupid people have given equality—but what the bank’s analysis shows is that being gay friendly is good for business. Being intolerant has its price.

Malmö, monday morning. It’s still winter and Covid-19 is still making the world a dull place. I wish I could stay in bed and wake up when it’s all over.

It’s unbearable to listen to the news nowadays. I’m fed up with Covid-19, Trump, and Brexit. Yes, it’s important and I have written plenty about it myself, but still.

Something that would never happen according to the Leave campaign. Remember? 🇪🇺

When I lived in Britain, and later in the Netherlands, I was hooked on EastEnders. Barbara Windsor, boss at Queen Vic, was a big part of that.

Another royal mouth to feed. Congrats!

This is how intergovernmentalism works. Shady deals in secret negotiations. Enough! Europe needs federalism! Read about it at EU Observer.

His real name was David John Moore Cornwell. But he was John le Carré to us all. An excellent writer has left us.

It’s the day after several colleagues tested positive for Covid-19. Others had to go home while they wait for their test result. Don’t know how to feel about it. Is this the beginning of something really terrible in my own life?

“French president Emmanuel Macron has called a referendum, due next year, too amend the French constitution by adding pledges on climate and environment protection to the text,” EU Observer reports.

This seems to me as a backdoor to more government control.

I looked through some old photos and found the album from my last trip with my mother. I miss her and think of her every day. I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since she left me for good. ♥️

“A majority in nine countries across the Arab world feel they are living in significantly more unequal societies today than before the Arab spring,” the Guardian writes.

Like many, I hade great hopes for a change in the Middle East ten years ago. It’s sad to see that it didn’t help.

Our king is making international headlines. Here’s the article in the Guardian.

Aftonbladet’s interview with the two novelists Thomas Engström och Margit Richert is in Swedish. I don’t have time to translate it, but it’s an astonishing example of cliché leftism. They speak of their retreat to rural life and their contempt for the evil people who don’t share their pessimism. They are unbothered by the fact that most things are getting better because of the system they despise. It’s all about posing.

It’s Friday evening. My favourite evening of the week.

I began to look at JSON-LD (JavaScript Object Notation for Linked Data) a week ago. Now I realise that I’ve spent the whole weekend trying to learn all about this tool, which has become a Google pet project.

Britain has agreed a free-trade agreement with Europe.

It’s not exactly the Brexit Boris promised in 2016, The Economist writes.

Instead of free market they now have bureaucracy.

Homophobia is still strong in much of Europe, Natalie Picken writes. 😡

There’s not many people about due to the pandemic, but Playa del Inglés is still wonderful. I’m not a fan of getting older, but I find myself longing for full-time retirement in my Spanish flat.

…while both the Prime Minister and the Minister for Justice do just that. Double standard is double fun.

If you’re into true-crime podcasts, I would like to recommend Canadian True Crime. I’m listening to their four-part coverage of serial killer Robert Pickton. A very well-researched podcast. 👍

Messina, Maastricht, Schengen and others all have a story to tell. Nigel Gardner writes about it at the Guardian.

I will always remember 2020 as a horrific year. It began with the death of my beloved mother in January. In February, people began to fall ill in Sweden and throughout Europe. In March, my colleagues began to work from home, which meant that I lost the socialising part of the workplace for much of the year. Adding to that, planned seminars and conferences were cancelled, and air travel nearly came to a complete standstill. Nearly all activities in my synagogue were called off, so I lost that chance to socialising, too. I felt trapped in my flat in Malmö, only having a few opportunities to visit my other home in Gran Canaria.

That was 2020. Now a new year begins, and I truly hope it will prove to be a better one. Happy new year!