I am British and European. I was born a European citizen, and I have enjoyed the great benefits of citizenship throughout my life. As things stand, this will sadly end in 2020. Suddenly in 12 months time, Brits will no longer be European citizens. We will be losing part of our international identity. Please sign this petition, urging the European Commission and EU, to maintain European citizenship for those that would like to keep it, but who stand to lose it due to Brexit...

Does the UK government have the legal right unilaterally to remove our EU citizenship? Including those who were born EU citizens and those who were disenfranchised by the 2015 UK Referendum Act? Isn't this for the EU to decide?

... The EU is Britain’s biggest market for financial services, worth about 26 billion pounds a year in exports. That level of business has helped to keep London as one of the world’s biggest financial centres and made the financial industry Britain’s most important tax-raising sector...

WHAT CHANGES ON JAN 31?

Effectively, nothing. There will be a business-as-usual transition period until the end of 2020, meaning that investors in Britain and the EU will see no change in services on Monday, Feb. 3.

All EU financial rules will still be applicable in Britain until the end of December...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-finance-factbox/the-city-and-brexit-what-changes-and-when-idUKKBN1ZR1ES?il=0

... Britain and France, the EU’s two nuclear armed U.N. Security Council permanent members, have long been by far the bloc’s leading military powers. Britain was also the bloc’s only member of the “Five Eyes” intelligence sharing group, giving it privileged access to the output of U.S. spies. To contain the damage from Britain’s exit, the bloc is keen to keep London in a tight security and defence relationship in the future.

The departure of a traditional proponent of trans-Atlantic ties will leave more say to Paris, which has greater ambitions for the integration of European defence...

... With Germany seen leaning more towards a traditional French model of a strong state role, Britain will be an absence in discussions about industrial policy, vetting foreign investment, state aid to industry and creating national champions...

... Britain was by far the largest EU state outside the euro zone, meaning the other eight countries that have kept national currencies lose their most important ally when their interests diverge from those of states that use the euro...

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-eu-dynamics-explainer/missing-you-already-how-brexit-tilts-eu-political-alliances-idUKKBN1ZR1BE

by Amed Khan

... The impeachment-fearing president - a permanent foreign policy novice - proudly understands nothing about the region, its politics, or its religions.

That means that like Bush before him, Trump remains susceptible to manipulation from top advisers who have larger plans. Just as Bush got steered down the road of Iraqi ruin by Dick Cheney, who kept one eye on his Halliburton stock, as well as a flock of neoconservatives who remained committed to their decades-long plot of Iraqi regime change, Trump's advisers on Iran include key players like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence.

Both believe there is a battle between good and evil that will end with the "Rapture" - following an apocalyptic war in the Middle East, Jesus Christ will return to Israel, bestowing eternal redemption to Christians, who will be "raptured" or ascended, into heaven...

If extremists like Pompeo and Pence want Trump to create chaos in the Middle East in order to quicken the Rapture, they ought to just say so and let swing state voters this year decide if that's America's best path forward.

https://news.sky.com/story/trumps-reckless-middle-east-rampage-makes-mad-bushs-rush-to-war-look-thoughtful-11906088

... Australia was founded on the lie that this country was terra nullius. It was founded on the lie that white men are the superior species. It was founded on the lie that the country was previously “unsettled” and that importing animals, plants, pests and unsustainable farming practices was how best to “settle” this “wild” land... Within my lifetime, I have seen the same lies play out to justify the Northern Territory intervention, to attack land rights, to justify inaction on climate change, to deny the stolen generations ever happened, to dehumanise and delegitimise the plights of Indigenous peoples, the unemployed, the entire “left”-leaning population.

These contradictory lies have necessitated a phenomenal amount of cognitive dissonance within the population in order for them to feel that patriotic pride that usually comes out so strongly in the form of flags, flag capes, flag thongs and alcoholism...

... Australia is home to the oldest living cultures on Earth – cultures that understood the health of the land, the water, the animals and the people are one and the same. We cannot take Australia back to its pre-invasion state, but we can move forward into the future embracing these same principles, and returning Indigenous people to our rightful role as guardians and caretakers...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jan/10/australia-is-built-on-lies-so-why-would-we-be-surprised-about-lies-about-climate-change