Will You Cast my Vote in the EU Referendum?
I’ve screwed up: I’m registered to vote in Liverpool but am going to London on the day of the EU referendum. I know I know, I should have organised a postal vote but I didn’t. (more…)
Irish Travellers and Romany Gypsies
This article was written by Eion Gibbs, whom I met in Bucharest in April 2015. He was at the tail-end of a great walk across Europe, from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul, a ten-month epic in the footsteps of Patrick Leigh Fermor. After the furore I caused by expressing my opinion about the Romany Gypsies (in this article), I asked Eion to share his experiences of meeting this minority along the roads of Central and Eastern Europe. To my surprise and delight he offered me this article first, about his impressions from the UK… (more…)
I was Wrong About the Romani Gypsies
For many years I thought I knew the answer to the problems faced by the Romani Gypsies: education. If we could just make school more appealing to this population their situation of marginalisation would gradually end, and they would learn the skills needed to challenge the discrimination they are faced with all over Europe.
A new book I am reading has made me realise that I was totally wrong about this – there is no simple answer to their poverty – and that I know a lot less than I assumed about the Romani Gypsy population. And our patronising, know-it-all attitudes doesn’t help. (more…)