Round tables

Some round tables are rounder than others. Some might even be a bit squarer. And others seem to have been designed with obstacles, to guide the conversations.

Look at a typical American panel or round table. There are conversations flowing, opinions, everybody talks to everyone, polite disagreement.

Look at a Portuguese panel in a conference. Everyone sits on their chairs, well-behaved. There are questions from the anchor. There are answers from the panelists. Sequencially, from the left panelist to the right one. No panelist talks directly to another one, God forbids! And, of course, everyone is in agreement.

Dislike

A sentence I truly dislike - "The EU gives funds". The European Union doesn't "give", it lends, and only with enough assurances that the money will be paid back. So each and every cent should be carefully invested.

Today is a special day

It is the day to vote and choose a Government.

Why reading matters so much to freedom

Read this text from José Pacheco Pereira (in Portuguese). Is worth your time, believe me.

https://www.publico.pt/2024/03/09/opiniao/opiniao/ler-conta-liberdade-2083066

To abandon facts

"To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacule" - Timothy Snyder

On Tyranny - first paragraph

"Aristotles warned that inequality brought instability. Plato told us that demagogues exploit Free Speech to set themselves up as tyrants". In the first paragraph of "On Tyranny", by Timothy Snyder.

Short-term

Europe has one year to prepare itself for whatever happens in the US. This is very short, considering all that has not been done in the last 30 years and what is happening in Russia.