It could sound rather brutal to hear that we'll never find the right person, but it's in fact the most generous and optimistic sentiment, because only once we give up on the absurd dream of finding the Right Person (who doesn't exist for anyone), can we start to make it work with that far more realistic and likely partner: the good enough person.
20 January 2019
SciShow: How Aspirin Changed Medicine Forever
Aspirin isn't just an old medicine cabinet stand-by, it's one of the oldest medicines we humans learned how to make ourselves. And our research into aspirin did more than just make it better at relieving pain, it opened the door to whole new disciplines of scientific research!
Foreign Policy: The Beginning of the End of Britain’s Brexit Fantasy
Moreover, Britain suddenly finds itself very much alone on the world stage. As of April 1, as things currently stand (and there’s no plan B in the wings), the U.K. will no longer be in the European Union, with everything that entails. Not least is the loss of frictionless and duty-free trade with nearly half a billion souls. And no one is rushing to save Britain by offering better trade terms, least of all its old “special” ally, the United States.[...]
Trump, who has been a Brexit cheerleader from the start—he was elected only a few months after the Brexit referendum and incongruously cheered the result during a visit to one of his Scottish golf courses—has made a brutally hard process even harder every step of the way for May. Last fall, Trump blindsided May by calling her proposed pullout agreement “a great deal for the EU,” then cast doubt on whether he could negotiate with her at all, in part because May’s pact would have required a 21-month transition period.[...]
More to the point, while standing alone, the U.K. is not a priority for anyone. For example, Leigh noted, Australia and New Zealand are currently in talks on trade deals with the European Union and making it a priority over any hypothetical talks with Britain. A market of 450 million outweighs one of 65 million.
Politico: Portugal’s opposition woes
Unlike almost everywhere else in Europe, Portugal’s mainstream conservatives face no credible threat from populists on the right. Instead, they are split into three rival parties defined by personal rather than ideological differences. [...]
Rio’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) remains the largest on the right, but polls show it heading for its worst-ever European Parliament result. Its support languishes below 25 percent, 15 points behind Costa’s Socialist Party (PS). [...]
Rio eventually won a confidence motion by 75 to 50 votes in the party’s National Council just before 4 a.m. but only after a 10-hour debate marked by mudslinging that's unlikely to win over disgruntled voters. [...]
The right still suffers from association with austerity policies introduced under PSD Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho in response to the eurozone debt crisis. Since gaining power in November 2015, Costa has overseen steady economic growth that’s cut unemployment by half.
read the article
Rio’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) remains the largest on the right, but polls show it heading for its worst-ever European Parliament result. Its support languishes below 25 percent, 15 points behind Costa’s Socialist Party (PS). [...]
Rio eventually won a confidence motion by 75 to 50 votes in the party’s National Council just before 4 a.m. but only after a 10-hour debate marked by mudslinging that's unlikely to win over disgruntled voters. [...]
The right still suffers from association with austerity policies introduced under PSD Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho in response to the eurozone debt crisis. Since gaining power in November 2015, Costa has overseen steady economic growth that’s cut unemployment by half.
read the article
Politico: Spanish left’s top-level split
Errejón, who took on — and lost to — Iglesias for Podemos’ leadership in 2017, had been tapped to represent the party in May's election, when a new regional parliament will be chosen. But on Thursday, Errejón said he had joined a new, cross-party movement called Más Madrid (More Madrid) and would run on its ticket in the election instead.[...]
Podemos' branch in Andalusia, Adelante Andalucía, finished fourth in an election in December that saw its share of the vote plummet by more than 30 percent from a 2015 ballot. Podemos is currently the third-biggest party in the national parliament, but most recent polls place it fourth.
Analysts often blame Podemos’ loss of support on decisions such as refusing to endorse Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s bid for power back in 2016 — which effectively allowed the conservatives to stay longer in office; striking an alliance with the communist United Left; and its stance on Catalan independence — Podemos often sides with the separatists, backed the vote on secession and opposed Madrid assuming control over the region after the declaration of independence.
Errejón — a 35-year-old politics professor — has been portrayed as a moderate in contrast with the hard-liner Iglesias, although public differences between the two have often been more about marketing than policies. Errejón has been a firm defender of using language that goes beyond old leftist stereotypes in a bid to attract wider support.
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