Keep up with the latest from Bremain in Spain
Bremainers Ask ……. Bremain in Spain Council
Our Bremainers Ask this month is a little different, as it’s a combination of questions asked in the Facebook group, and the Q & A session from our AGM. Steve Harding: If there were another referendum or the winning party at the next UK elections stance was to...
Are Brits Abandoning Spain?
If you’ve been reading the UK tabloids recently, you could be forgiven for thinking there is a mass exodus of British citizens – especially pensioners – repatriating from Spain to the UK, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for West England Bylines.On 3 October, the...
Our Bremain weekend in Málaga
On the 4th weekend in October, the Bremain council headed for Malaga for our annual reunion. On Saturday 23rd, we met for the first time in 18 months, & some of us for the first time ever in person. The occasion was our annual strategy meeting during which we...
When will the government call the next election?
When will the next general election be held and what kind of impact will the pandemic and Brexit have on the choice of timing, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines. There has been much speculation over recent weeks and months about the timing of...
Northern Ireland protocol ‘home stretch’, or more kicking the can down the road?
Over recent weeks, the EU has been promising to come up with practical proposals to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines. Those “far-reaching proposals” were finally announced by vice...
EU membership wasn’t a ‘long bad dream’, but that’s a perfect description for Brexit
At the Conservative Party conference on Monday, Lord David Frost, chief Brexit negotiator, made a speech to a “pretty empty hall”, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines. In his speech, Frost claimed that Britain was entering a “renaissance” and...
Unmasked covid travels – Spain to England, Scotland, Wales and back – like chalk and cheese
Most people know that travelling during the covid pandemic has been challenging, with rapidly changing rules and regulations to follow, writes Bremain Vice Chair Lisa Ryan Burton for Yorkshire Bylines. On a recent visit to the UK from Spain, the differences in...
What can I do? Get involved, stay informed. October 2021
Here you will find a list of events and actions you can get involved with this month by clicking on the links provided. It will be updated monthly and is always included in Bremain´s monthly newsletter. If you haven't signed up already, you can do so here.The...
Closing doors: Brexit and TEFL teaching in Spain
West Country Bylines has recently highlighted how Brexit is affecting the language teaching sector in the UK, with dire impacts on school trips abroad and on the TEFL sector in the UK. Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) has also, for many years, provided...
Bremainers Ask ….. Peter Jukes from Byline Times
Peter Jukes is an English author, screenwriter, playwright, literary critic and journalist. He is also the founder and executive editor of Byline Times and co-founder of Byline Festival. Follow him on Twitter: @peterjuke Pat Kennedy: Why don't more...
Fuel crisis? What crisis?
Ministers are keen to stress there is no fuel shortage and therefore no fuel crisis, just no actual fuel at the pumps, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for Yorkshire Bylines.Unless you have been asleep at the wheel, you might have noticed a slight problem with fuel...
Buying products from the EU after Brexit: a hefty price to pay
Anyone ordering goods from the EU in 2021 has likely come in for a nasty shock to the wallet. The advertised price, paid in good faith when ordering online, has not been the end of the story, or to the costs. The same has applied to EU residents or businesses ordering...
Open Letter to Lord Frost
Dear Lord Frost, You probably won’t have heard of me, but I’m a regular correspondent with your partner in crime, the prime minister. Perhaps he has mentioned me in passing as that irritating women with the MBE that lives in Spain. I am writing to thank you for the...
Bremain Presents Evidence re The Elections Bill
On Tuesday 7 September, the government’s Elections Bill returned to the House of Commons for the second reading. The Commons debate coincided with an evidence gathering session of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) on the same...
Getting Brexit undone
Brexit is barely nine months old but is not ageing well, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE. The ‘fabulous’ deal that Prime Minister Johnson and Brexit negotiator Lord Frost raved about last December, has lost all its shine – especially, it seems, to those who...
Bremainers Ask Revisited – Part 5
As part of our regular Bremainers Ask feature, we occasionally ask previous contributors to comment on the latest political developments. This month we are delighted to welcome back Naomi Smith, Ian Dunt and Jonathan Lis who have all agreed to comment on the current...
Hands off my Pension!
British pensioners are worried about their income. For those reliant solely on the state pension, it can be a struggle to survive on what is the “world’s third worst” pension, and the lowest rate across Europe, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE for West Country...
Parliamentary inquiry into elections bill takes evidence
On 26 July 2021, the public administration and constitutional affairs committee (PACAC) launched an inquiry into the elections bill, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson for Yorkshire Bylines. It is the latest of 13 ongoing inquiries that the House of Commons committee is...
The Spanish Healthcare System – a personal view
In June 2005 we moved to the Southern Costa Blanca of Spain, a region the World Health Organisation declared as one of the most healthy climates in the world, writes Bremain Council member Mike Phillips for Kent Bylines. My wife Anne, as a pensioner, was able to...
Climate crisis: action vs hypocrisy
Last weekend saw my home region of Spain – the Valencian Community – brace for the first real ola de calor of the 2021 season, writes Bremain Chair Sue Wilson for Yorkshire Bylines. Warm air from the Sahara brought temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius, with the...
Denying care to the elderly? Age is just a number
In five weeks’ time, I will celebrate being 68 years old, or young, depending on your outlook, and probably your own age. Brexit and covid aside, I am the happiest, most contented I have ever been in my life, and probably the fittest and most active too, writes...
Travel farce: anger from British nationals in Europe
Thursday last week, the UK government made the long-awaited travel rules announcement: from 4am on 2 August, European citizens who were fully vaccinated would no longer have to isolate for ten days if travelling to the UK from amber list countries, with certain...
Bremainers Ask………. Anna Bird, CEO European Movement UK
Anna Bird is the CEO of the European Movement UK. She joined the European Movement in September 2020, having previously led political influencing campaigns at Scope, the Fawcett Society and Mind. Anna is a passionate Europhile, a European Studies graduate and Erasmus...
Frost’s command plan for the Northern Ireland protocol
Bremain Chair Sue Wilson MBE writes for Yorkshire Bylines about the ongoing UK issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol: Over the last few days, rumours have been rife as to the UK’s plans to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland protocol. Rhetoric from...