… relationship between Britain and the EU as sovereign equals, joined by … European Union, with both European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council … made in Europe.”
The European Parliament is expected to examine the …
UK enters ‘new chapter’ outside European Union as Brexit transition period ends
The Best YA Books Of 2020 And 5 New Ones To Watch For In 2021
/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/5fee597685c117fd15c5098c/0x0.jpg?w=696&resize=696,0&ssl=1 "The Best YA Books Of 2020 And 5 New Ones To Watch For In 2021")
One of next year’s most-anticipated young adult books is a sequel to “The Hate U Give.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
2020 has been a year everyone wants to forget in many ways. But for publishing, it was actually an amazing year—and that includes the collection of young adult (YA) novels.
The best YA books of the year touched on serious issues and examined current events through unique viewpoints.
Keep in mind that “best” doesn’t correlate with “notable.” For example, while Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, was certainly notable, it wasn’t one of the
year’s most surprising or imaginative efforts.
Here are 10 YA books that stood out in 2020, as well as five more that look the most promising for 2021.
Best YA Books of 2020
Camp by L.C. Rosen
Boy meets boy, boy ignores boy, boy gives himself a masc makeover to get boy’s attention, boy meets boy again and sparks finally fly. The book takes place at an LGBTQIA+ camp, and it gives both boys strong backstories so that their actions make sense, even when you want to scream at them. The secondary characters are a delight.
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Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
One of the most gifted poets of her generation, Acevedo takes a storyline that might feel like “too much” in the hands of another writer (long-lost sisters) and turns it into another masterpiece. She uses language in unexpected and lyrical ways.
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
So many books are about relationships. While the protagonist falls in love in this gem, the book is, at its heart, about Felix’s relationship to himself. Callendar spins a tight mystery while also exploring issues of identity and class, without seeming heavy-handed.
The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson
The final in Johnson’s trio of Truly Devious books brings the mystery series to a satisfying conclusion. The three books manage to be both eerily atmospheric and impressively modern, balancing between two eras and doing it well.
Mad, Bad & Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed
The imaginative premise of this book follows two teenage girls living 200 years apart yet somehow connected through their struggles. They have big choices to make, and watching them navigate through the parts of their lives they want to change makes this a page-turner.
We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez
This novel about three young people fleeing Guatemala through Mexico makes immigration policy relatable for teens through outstanding storytelling. At times thrilling, at times heart-wrenching, the book stays with you long after you finish reading it.
We Are Not Free by Traci Chee
Another timely look at race, this time through the eyes of second-generation Japanese-Americans, teenagers whose lives are changed by the incarceration camps in the United States during World War II. The book follows them as they fight through the trauma of racism and injustice.
Punching the Air, by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam
One of the best-reviewed YA books on GoodReads this year, Air tells the story of a boy who’s wrongly incarcerated—something Salaam, one of the “Exonerated 5,” knows all too much about. Amal Shahid sees his chances of becoming an artist dim as he fights to prove his innocence after his conviction.
A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown
Combining folklore, fantasy and a critical examination of refugee policy, Wraiths became an instant bestseller last summer. It’s hard to put down this action-packed book; luckily it’s part one of a duology.
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
The debut rom-com is just as adorable as the title, putting a new spin on the old “friends to enemies” trope. There’s definitely a “You’ve Got Mail” feel to this book, which also features the protagonists’ family businesses at war.
Five to Watch for in 2021
Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson
Her fantastic debut, You Should See Me in a Crown, was another 2020 favorite, and Johnson’s second book deals with themes of loss and (again!) music.
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
Thomas’ superlative The Hate U Give gets a prequel following Starr Carter’s father, Maverick.
The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold
This takes place in the aftermath of a pandemic; need we say more?
The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee
The third in the historical Montague siblings series introduces the youngest of the trio. There better be a lot of Percy, too.
Indivisible by Daniel Aleman
Mateo comes home from school and finds his undocumented parents have been taken by ICE.
Britain completes formal economic break with European Union
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People raise a glass and celebrate in Parliament Square as the bell known as Big Ben strikes 2300, and Britain ends its transition period and formally leaves the European Union in London, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions on gatherings people were moved on by police if they met in any number . lessPeople raise a glass and celebrate in Parliament Square as the bell known as Big Ben strikes 2300, and Britain ends its transition period and formally leaves the European Union in London, Thursday, Dec. 31, … more
Photo: Matt Dunham, AP
People raise a glass and celebrate in Parliament Square as the bell known as Big Ben strikes 2300, and Britain ends its transition period and formally leaves the European Union in London, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the restrictions on gatherings people were moved on by police if they met in any number . less
People raise a glass and celebrate in Parliament Square as the bell known as Big Ben strikes 2300, and Britain ends its transition period and formally leaves the European Union in London, Thursday, Dec. 31, … more
Photo: Matt Dunham, AP
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s long and sometimes acrimonious divorce from the European Union ended Thursday with an economic split that leaves the EU smaller and the U.K. freer but more isolated in a turbulent world.
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Britain left the European bloc’s vast single market for people, goods and services at 11 p.m. London time, midnight in Brussels, completing the biggest single economic change the country has experienced since World War II. A different U.K.-EU trade deal will bring new restrictions and red tape, but for British Brexit supporters, it means reclaiming national independence from the EU and its web of rules.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose support for Brexit helped push the country out of the EU, called it “an amazing moment for this country.”
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“We have our freedom in our hands, and it is up to us to make the most of it,” he said in a New Year’s video message.
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The break comes 11 months after a political Brexit that left the two sides in the limbo of a “transition period” — like a separated couple still living together, wrangling and wondering whether they can remain friends. Now the U.K. has finally moved out.
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It was a day some had longed for and others dreaded since Britain voted in a 2016 referendum to leave the EU, but it turned out to be something of an anticlimax. U.K. lockdown measures to curb the coronavirus curtailed mass gatherings to celebrate or mourn the moment, though a handful of Brexit supporters defied the restrictions to raise a toast outside Parliament as the Big Ben bell sounded 11 times on the hour.
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A free trade agreement sealed on Christmas Eve after months of tense negotiations ensures that Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to buy and sell goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the 660 billion pounds ($894 billion) in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.
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But companies face sheaves of new costs and paperwork, including customs declarations and border checks. Traders are struggling to digest the new rules imposed by the 1,200-page trade deal.
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The English Channel port of Dover and the Eurotunnel passenger and freight route braced for delays as the new measures were introduced, though the pandemic and a holiday weekend meant cross-Channel traffic was light, with only a trickle of trucks arriving at French border posts in Calais as 2020 ended. The vital supply route was snarled for days after France closed its border to U.K. truckers for 48 hours last week in response to a fast-spreading variant of the virus identified in England.
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The British government insisted that “the border systems and infrastructure we need are in place, and we are ready for the U.K.’s new start.”
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But freight companies were holding their breath. Youngs Transportation in the U.K. suspended services to the EU until Jan. 11 “to let things settle.”
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“We figure it gives the country a week or so to get used to all of these new systems in and out, and we can have a look and hopefully resolve any issues in advance of actually sending our trucks,” said the company's director, Rob Hollyman.
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The services sector, which makes up 80% of Britain’s economy, does not even know what the rules will be for business with the EU in 2021. Many of the details have yet to be hammered out. Months and years of further discussion and argument over everything from fair competition to fish quotas lie ahead as Britain and the EU settle into their new relationship as friends, neighbors and rivals.
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Hundreds of millions of individuals in Britain and the bloc also face changes to their daily lives. Britons and EU citizens have lost the automatic right to live and work in the other’s territory. From now on, they will have to follow immigration rules and obtain work visas. Tourists face new headaches including from travel insurance and pet paperwork.
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For some in Britain, including the prime minister, it’s a moment of pride and a chance for the U.K. to set new diplomatic and economic priorities. Johnson said the U.K. was now “free to do trade deals around the world, and free to turbocharge our ambition to be a science superpower.”
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Conservative lawmaker Bill Cash, who has campaigned for Brexit for decades, said it was a “victory for democracy and sovereignty.”
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That’s not a view widely shared across the Channel. In the French president’s traditional New Year’s address, Emmanuel Macron expressed regret.
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“The United Kingdom remains our neighbor but also our friend and ally,” he said. “This choice of leaving Europe, this Brexit, was the child of European malaise and lots of lies and false promises.”
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The divorce could also have major constitutional repercussions for the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland, which shares a border with EU member Ireland, remains more closely tied to the bloc’s economy under the divorce terms, a status that could pull it away from the rest of the U.K.
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In Scotland, which voted strongly in 2016 to remain, Brexit has bolstered support for separation from the U.K. The country’s pro-independence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Scotland will be back soon, Europe. Keep the light on.”
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Many in Britain felt apprehension about a leap into the unknown that is taking place during a pandemic that has upended life around the world.
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“I feel very sad that we’re leaving,” said Jen Pearcy-Edwards, a filmmaker in London. “I think that COVID has overshadowed everything that is going on. But I think the other thing that has happened is that people feel a bigger sense of community, and I think that makes it even sadder that we’re breaking up our community a bit, by leaving our neighbours in Europe.
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“I’m hopeful that we find other ways to rebuild ties,” she said.
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Associated Press writers Renee Graham in London and John Leicester in Le Pecq, France, contributed to this report.
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Follow all AP stories on Brexit at <a href="https://apnews.com/Brexit" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">https://apnews.com/Brexit</a>
BiH: Statement by Ylva Johansson, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, on migrant winter shelter crisis in Lipa
European Commission Statement Brussels, 31 Dec 2020 The situation facing more than 900 migrants in Lipa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, is dire. They are without adequate shelter in severe winter conditions. This mornin…
European Council approves provisional application of trade deal with UK
The European Council adopted on Tuesday the decision on the signing of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and its provisional application as of January 1, 2021, according to a press release from the Council.
The agreement will now be signed by the two parties on Wednesday. European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will sign in Brussels on behalf of the European Union (EU) while Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sign in London on behalf of the United Kingdom, the release added.
“Next #BrexitDeal hurdle cleared: EU member states have given the final green light by written procedure to the provisional application of the EU-UK Trade & Cooperation Agreement as of January 1, 2021,” Sebastian Fischer, spokesperson for the German Presidency of the EU Council, tweeted.
Next year, the Council will adopt the decision on the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, once the European Parliament has given its consent and once all procedures necessary for the entry into force have been completed, according to the release.
The fast-track procedures were adopted in the EU as the post-Brexit agreement was only reached one week before the transitional period expires at the end of 2020.
The EU and the UK announced last Thursday the reaching of an agreement that will govern bilateral trade and security relationship starting from Jan. 1, 2021.
The deal will need the approval of the European Parliament, the British Parliament and the EU’s 27 member states.
The UK is the EU’s third largest trading partner in goods, after the United States and China.
Source: GNA
Buddhist Times News – Buddhist Eco-monks and Tree Ordination
In recent years we have seen the continuous, unrelenting abuse of the world’s resources. Forests and trees, which are critical to ecosystems and planetary biodiversity, are under acute stress. According to the Buddhist tradition, the Buddha was born from Maya’s side under a tree. He achieved enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, and delivered his first sermon and entered parinirvana under the shelter of trees. For religious and scientific reasons, the health of forest ecosystems is critical to the Buddhist idea of collective, planetary well-being.
Deforestation is a major threat in many majority Buddhist countries, including Thailand and Cambodia. Decades of illegal logging has had an adverse effect on local economies, food security, and biodiversity. However, a group of Buddhist monks and activists in Thailand and Cambodia are working together to protect threatened forests, integrating Buddhist principles with environmental awareness, providing consultation to government officials about environmental issues, and implementing sustainability projects. They are also involved in tree ordination, which over the past few years has gained media attention around the world for its innovative and inspiring message about the sanctity of the natural world.
In their campaigns, the eco-monks highlight how the selfish and short-sighted desire for economic gain and accelerated development have led to the exploitation of resources. They see it as their duty to bring traditional religious concepts and rituals to bear on contemporary ecological needs.
For years, the monks have made a substantial difference by cooperating with local NGOs to formulate sustainable development plans, developing education programs to encourage alternative farming methods that place a lighter burden on the land, and providing farmers with the knowledge, tools, and financial support to improve villagers’ economic circumstances.
Prominent eco-monk Phrakhu Sangkom Thanapanyo Khunsuri has established a traditional farming school at his temple in the eastern Thai province of Chonburi: the Maab-Euang Meditation Center for Sufficiency Economy. With many full-time students, Phra Sangkom teaches the Buddhist concepts of personal reflection and a theory called the Sufficiency Economy, which was developed by the late Thai monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej to promote subsistence farming, encourage self-sufficiency, and teach detachment from materialism and consumerism.
In Bangkok, another eco-monk, Phrakhu Win Mektripop, who holds a master’s degree in environmental economics from Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, has taught for years on the interrelationship between Buddhism and environmentalism. Many Thai universities and NGOs have followed in the stead of these monks by promoting environmental values founded on the Buddhist teaching to farmers and residents. The Bangkok-based International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) is one such organization working to connect Buddhist and non-Buddhist social and environmental activists across Asia and the world.
Thai monks are also teaching their Cambodian counterparts to protect forests. For example, Cambodian monk Ven. Bun Saluth, head of Samrong Pagoda in Oddar Meanchey Province, is a pioneer in protecting forests in Cambodia. Ven. Bun Saluth grew up in a rural village, the son of a farmer, but left home at an early age to become a monk. He spent five years studying in Thailand, where he lived with a group of eco-monks, returning home in February 2002 with a vision to protect his country’s forests. He has since succeeded in preserving 18,261 hectares of forest land in Oddar Meanchey. For his work, Ven. Bun Saluth was awarded the Equator Prize by the United Nations Development Programme in 2010.
According to a World Bank report, 73 per cent of Cambodia was covered by forest in 1990, but by 2010 that had fallen to 57 per cent. The monks fighting to preserve Cambodia’s forests have worked mainly through two large groups: the Monks Community Forest (MCF) and the Independent Monk Network for Social Justice (IMNSJ). Both groups are battling to save forests by demanding stronger government action against deforestation and lobbying lawmakers for greater protection of trees.
The IMNSJ has more than 5,000 monastic followers who teach local people how to use social media to raise awareness about illegal logging by uploading photos and videos and publishing articles. The monks also teach local residents what they can do to prevent deforestation. IMNSJ founder and leader Vene. Buntenh is a passionate advocate of preventing deforestation. Among his concerns are the threats against Prey Lang, one of Cambodia’s largest and oldest evergreen woodlands, comprised of 3,600 square kilometres of forest, including giant luxury timber trees, and home to at least 20 endangered plant species and 27 endangered animal species. Large sections of Prey Lang have already disappeared to make space for plantations, and illegal loggers have removed large patches of trees in protected areas.
The environmental and conservation activities of monks in Thailand and Cambodia also extend to performing tree ordination ceremonies. Tree ordination, adopted from traditional Buddhist practices, is popular in many Buddhist-majority countries. Trees are given “monastic ordination” and wrapped in the iconic saffron cloth worn by Theravada monks, thereby making them sacred and protecting the trees from damage, destruction, and deforestation.
Although the practice of tree ordination did not exist in the Buddha’s time, it is clear that the dedicated teams of monks aspire to create a “pure land” in the human realm. This engaged aspiration has led to the organic development of tree ordination tradition. A monastic robe wrapped around a tree symbolizes the aspiration to not only reduce deforestation, but also to establish a wildlife reserve in the area.
However, monks and activists in Thailand and Cambodia have also come under fire for their activities. Ven. Buntenh was charged with fraud alongside two other civic leaders in January 2018, prompting him to live in exile in the US. In the same year, the supreme patriarch of Cambodia’s monastic sangha turned against the activists, saying that monks should not be involved in protests and calling on pagodas to close their doors to those who are.
At a more everyday level, eco-monks continue to receive criticism about their methodology. Some say that the prominence of monks in worldly or political affairs will lead younger generations of monks to put less emphasis on their monastic lives and practice. It has been a tradition for the Thai monastic sangha to remain conservative on social issues, with monks rarely commenting on topics with political implications. Thai conservatives firmly believe that the role of the monastic sangha should be restricted to the spiritual realm. Less ideological and more pragmatic detractors worry about a hostile relationship developing between monks and the government as a result of repeated clashes. The role of Buddhism in Thai communities as a whole has also been challenged, owing to increasing government involvement and scrutiny.
Nevertheless, the eco-monks insist that they simply want to promote awareness of dependent origination as taught by the Buddha. All things exist through complex causes and conditions, which in turn become the causes and conditions for other phenomena. From this perspective, the world is a vast web of interdependence, in which human and environmental well-being are inseparable. Individuals, communities, businesses, and governments therefore must incorporate mindfulness of this reality into their daily work to avoid destructive acts against nature. This is the ultimate objective of the eco-monks: to protect the forests and trees for the well-being of the environment while also eliminating mental defilements and relieving human suffering.
We live in a world full of thorny and complex issues that demand nuance and sensitivity. We should not overlook the power of religion to address social issues, such as environmental problems, war and peace, and so on. The activities of eco-monks remind us of the benefits of engaged buddhism. Each one of us can take part in the fight for eco-values and religious values.
WWF believes that the green economy approach is the choice for a viable future in the Mekong and, recognising the anticipated changes in the region, is both realistic and feasible. Conservation responses need to be both strategic, addressing the need for long-term development, and where necessary tactical, using temporary measures to secure species and ecosystems under imminent threat. Multiple actions will be needed, ranging from initiatives at international, regional and national policy level to many thousands of projects, negotiations and decisions at the level of sites and landscapes.
Egypt: Team Europe – EIB and Banque Misr work together to support private businesses and speed up the recovery of SMEs from COVID-19
- €425 million to support Egyptian SMEs and mid-caps, boosting their ability to drive the economic recovery
- Part of Team Europe response to the coronavirus crisis
The European Investment Bank is providing Banque Misr with a €425 million credit line to support Egyptian private small and medium-sized enterprises that have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and boost their ability to lead the economic recovery in the country. The credit line will finance investment projects, as well as working capital needs, in productive and service sectors, thus sustaining growth and employment while helping to mitigate the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
The EIB financing forms part of the EIB contribution to the Team Europe response to the COVID-19 crisis in the European Union partner countries. It is consistent with the objectives of the External Lending Mandate (2014-2020) and the EU cooperation with Egypt as set out in the EU Single Support Framework for Egypt for the period 2017-2020, as well as the EU-Egypt Partnership Priorities, in that it aims to support private sector development with a focus on SMEs, increased competiveness, job creation and financial inclusion.
Flavia Palanza, Director for Neighbouring Countries at the European Investment Bank, made the following comment on the signature: “We are reinforcing our partnership with Banque Misr to support the Bank’s strategy to expand in SME financing. Our new credit line comes at a time when SMEs need strong support to overcome the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. SMEs are most vulnerable to the impact of this global crisis. We are proud of our partnership with Banque Misr and the tangible impact that our project will have on people’s lives in Egypt.”
“Small and medium-sized enterprises create job opportunities and add value and innovation while delivering products and services that people need. More than ever during these challenging times, businesses need access to finance and affordable credit from banks. A number of EU programmes where EU grants are pooled with loans provided by European Financial Institutions (EFIs) are supporting businesses by offering them access to direct concessional loans or guarantee schemes with local partner banks,” said Christian Berger, Ambassador of the EU to Egypt.
“Last April, the EU together with its Member States and EFIs launched the Team Europe package to help partner countries to cope with the consequences posed by the pandemic, including its socioeconomic impact. Today our partner, the EIB, is signing further important Team Europe funding, which will make a real impact on SMEs and eventually on people’s lives across Egypt,” he added.
Akef El-Maghraby, Vice Chairman of Banque Misr, confirmed that the signing of this agreement seeks to assist national companies – mainly SMEs – in performing various activities, especially in light of the implications of the COVID-19 crisis. Banque Misr is one of the most pioneering financial institutions in supporting and financing SMEs, attaching great importance to the SME sector, as the size of the financing portfolio of this sector amounted to 20% of the total financing portfolio. This comes in line with the directives of Central Bank of Egypt and the state’s efforts to advance the sector in order to improve economic indicators, drive rates of economic development, promote local products and reduce the import bill.
Akef El-Maghraby also highlighted that Banque Misr is also interested in providing financial support to SME sector via its branch network, reaching more than 700 branches throughout the Arab Republic of Egypt. This is coupled with the Bank’s endeavours to provide distinctive financing mechanisms that meet the financing needs of all projects in all sectors of economic and service activities, which reflects in the advancement of the national economy.
Akef El-Maghraby said that Banque Misr launched the “Express” loan for small projects, which is considered the first integrated digital product, which allows Banque Misr’s small project customers to submit a financing application online via the website, without the need to visit the branch, on a step-by-step basis with minimum procedures. The small project financing loan is the fastest loan in Egypt and can be obtained within five days of the date of submission, subject to applicable terms and conditions.
Banque Misr is the second largest bank in Egypt with a clear focus on SME lending and a large retail presence across all the governorates. In 2019, Banque Misr served more than 123 000 SMEs across the country, which makes it one of the largest supporters of the SME sector in the country.
Since 2015, the EIB has provided €3.9 billion in support of Egyptian SMEs and mid-caps through 15 operations, accounting for about a third of the Bank’s portfolio in Egypt. Over these years, in line with the objectives of External Lending Mandate and national priorities, the EIB has focused on building fruitful relationships with those publicly and privately owned banks that are committed to supporting SMEs and particularly with institutions willing and able to reach out to traditionally underserved segments such as small, rural, youth and female.
UK braces for historic departure from the European Union
London, United Kingdom – The UK is bracing for a historic break from the European Union that will reset the relationship between them for generations to come.
More than four years after a slim majority of Britons voted in favour of quitting the EU, the UK will leave the bloc’s single market and customs union at 23:00 GMT on Thursday, December 31.
As the new year starts, the two sides must abide by the terms of a recently inked deal, which sets boundaries on their trade and security relationships.
On Wednesday, the UK Parliament speedily approved the deal, meaning it has now passed into UK law.
In short, Brexit marks the most momentous shift in the country’s recent history and will reverse decades of closer economic, cultural and social integration with the EU, its largest trading partner.
“Historically it’s really significant – it is the first major example of building barriers to trade and to cooperation that we have seen in the modern period,” Simon Usherwood, a professor of politics at the University of Surrey, told Al Jazeera.
“And there’s still a kind of uncertainty regarding whether this is about Britain retreating from the world and pulling up the drawbridge or becoming an international player in the broader sense and becoming a ‘global Britain’.”
The 1,240-page Trade and Cooperation Agreement was finally brokered a week ago, following months of fractious negotiations in the so-called transition period, which began after the UK’s formal departure from the EU in January.
After the deal was reached, a sense of relief was felt by both sides.
It averts the prospect of a chaotic divorce and ensures goods can continue to travel between the UK and the EU without tariffs or quotas from the beginning of 2021, smoothing trade worth hundreds of billions of pounds – and euros – a year.
Still, London’s imminent departure from Brussels’ orbit will bring about a raft of new rules and red tape for businesses.
How Britons and Europeans live, work and travel between the country and the continent will also change, with new visa regulations.
‘An economic rupture’
In the wake of the deal being reached, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of a “newly, and truly, independent nation”.
He won by a landslide in the December 2019 election on a pledge to “Get Brexit Done”, after the issue effectively ended the political careers of his two predecessors – Theresa May and David Cameron.
Johnson has hailed the EU deal as a triumph, claiming he has achieved what he set out to achieve.
The UK, he said, has taken back control of its laws, borders, and fishing waters under the pact.
He also stressed that the UK will be the “best friend and ally the EU could have” as the pair reorient themselves to their new relationship.
But opponents of Brexit say the divorce threatens to break up the UK, harm the economy in the long term, and diminish its global standing.
National economic output will shrink by 4 percent over the next 15 years as a result of the UK’s departure from the EU’s single market and customs union, according to the UK’s financial watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
EU economies are also predicted to take a hit, although the impact of Brexit will vary considerably across the bloc.
Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands are expected to be most affected, as they do the most trade with the UK.
Analysts said that even with the agreed trade deal, Brexit would effectively result in a lose-lose financial outcome for both sides.
“It’s an economic rupture … and the biggest one-day change in trading relations in modern history,” David Henig, director of the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Centre for International Political Economy think-tank, told Al Jazeera.
“There’s 660 billion pounds [approximately $898bn] worth of trade which tomorrow is under new, more restrictive rules,” he said. “Just how much impact it will have we simply don’t know – it’s an entry into the unknown.”
Henig and Usherwood also expect continued political fallout next year and beyond, citing possible flash-points: disruption accompanying the implementation of the trade deal, the agreement’s protocol for Northern Ireland, and its implications for Scotland where the ruling nationalist party is pushing for a second referendum on independence.
There will also be further wrangling between London and Brussels, with many aspects of the pair’s overall future relationship still left to be worked out.
“If you assume the end of Brexit is when there is a new, stable relationship with the EU then we are not yet at that point,” Usherwood said.
Comprehensive Commentary on Kant’s Religion Within the Bounds of Bare Reason
Preface x
Acknowledgments xxiii
Abbreviations xxvi
Introduction: The Hermeneutic Background to Kant’s Religion: The Two Prefaces (R 3–14) 1
1. Kant’s private beliefs and the writing of Religion 1
2. The 1793 Preface: (A) Religion as the final purpose of morality 7
3. The 1793 Preface: (B) Unifying philosophical and biblical theology 21
4. The 1794 Preface: Two experiments and Kant’s responses to critics 31
Part I: Human Nature’s Transcendental Problem: Evil and the Boundary of Goodness (First Piece) 41
1 The Original Goodness of Human Nature: Introduction, Comment, and Section I (R 19–28) 43
1. Untitled introduction: Is humanity good or evil by nature? 43
2. Comment: (A) Why moral neutrality is impossible 51
3. Comment: (B) Could humans be partly good and partly evil? 59
4. Section I: Human nature’s original predisposition is good 63
2 The Propensity to Evil in Human Nature: Sections II and III (R 28–39) 72
1. Section II: (A) Three sources of moral evil 72
2. Section II: (B) Defining evil as a perversion of moral reasoning 78
3. Section III: (A) Empirical evil and its origin on the boundary 83
4. Section III: (B) The need for (and form of) an a priori proof 92
3 Evil’s Rational Origin and the Hope for Recovery: Sections IV and V (R 39–52) 106
1. Section IV: (A) Transcendental versus empirical origins 106
2. Section IV: (B) Assessing the Bible’s account of evil’s origin 112
3. Section V: (A) Divine aid and conversion’s possibility 120
4. Section V: (B) God’s role in transforming moral character 133
Appendix I: Experiencing the Effects of Grace against Evil: The First General Comment (R 52–3) 144
Part II: The Individual’s Logical Struggle: The Power of Belief in Divine Aid (Second Piece) 151
4 The Personified Idea of the Good Principle: Introduction and Section One, Subsections A and B (R 57–66) 153
1. Untitled introduction: How to distinguish evil from good 153
2. Section One, A: The archetype of perfection as a divine gift 161
3. Section One, B: (A) Becoming exemplary via practical faith 166
4. Section One, B: (B) An archetypal person’s twofold nature 169
5 Legitimizing Hope in Divine Grace: Section One, Subsection C (R 66–78) 179
1. First difficulty: How can imperfect beings become holy? 179
2. Second difficulty: Can we be certain of our eternal destiny? 183
3. Third difficulty: How can God punish pre]conversion evil? 195
4. Overview: Grace as the basis for a legal claim to being good 207
6 Biblical Symbols of the Struggle with Evil: Section Two (R 78–84) 215
1. The Genesis narrative on evil’s legal claim to dominion 215
2. Advent of a unique person, free from the propensity to evil 218
3. In what sense does the crucifixion defeat the power of evil? 223
4. The narrative’s rational meaning 227
Appendix II: Experiencing Miracles as Self]Negating: The Second General Comment (R 84–9) 233
Part III: The Community’s Empirical Victory: The Church as Historical Vehicle for Good (Third Piece) 249
7 The Founding of a True Church: Introduction and Division One, Sections I–V (R 93–109) 251
1. Untitled introduction: Hope for victory in struggling with evil 251
2. Division One, Sections I–III: Founding the ethical community 255
i. Sections I and II: The duty to leave the state of nature 255
ii. Section III: An ethical community requires God 263
3. Division One, Sections IV–V: Establishing a true church 267
i. Section IV: The four requirements for church organization 267
ii. Section V: Every true church begins as a revelation faith 273
4. Untitled comments: Different faiths can express one religion 283
8 Interpreting Religious Ideas in a Church: Division One, Sections VI–VII (R 109–24) 288
1. Division One, Section VI: (A) Interpretations must be moral 288
2. Division One, Section VI: (B) Nonmoral Interpretive Methods 294
i. Scriptural scholarship is secondary to the moral method 294
ii. Feeling as a common but unreliable third method 300
3. Division One, Section VII: (A) Interpreting faith as a vehicle 303
i. The “remarkable antinomy” of sanctifying faith 303
ii. Perspectival solution to the antinomy of faith 310
4. Division One, Section VII: (B) The coming of God’s kingdom 319
9 Gradual Victory of Good in Church History: Division Two (R 125–37) 326
1. Division Two: (A) The unchangeable basis of the true church 326
2. Division Two: (B) Christianity’s radical break with Judaism 329
i. The allegedly nonuniversal emphasis of the Jewish faith 329
ii. The universal heart of Jesus’ message 333
3. Division Two: (C) The role of scholarship in church history 338
i. The diversion of historical Christianity from its true aim 338
ii. Qualified optimism about the present state of religion 341
4. Division Two: (D) Symbols of the inward kingdom 346
Appendix III: Understanding Mysteries as Moral Symbols in Communities of Faith: The Third General Comment (R 137–47) 355
Part IV: Religion’s Hypothetical Application: How to Serve God in a Church (Fourth Piece) 377
10 Natural Christianity Revealed: Introductions and Part One, Section One (R 151–63) 379
1. Untitled introduction: True and false service of God 379
2. Part One, Introduction: Approaches to interpreting religion 384
3. Part One, Section One: (A) The moral core of Jesus’ teachings 395
4. Part One, Section One: (B) Jesus’ teachings on the afterlife 404
11 Learning Statutory Religion without Delusion: Part One, Section Two, and Part Two §§1–2 (R 163–75) 409
1. Part One, Section Two: (A) Biblical scholarship as a means 409
2 Part One, Section Two: (B) Christian Judaism as prudential 414
3. Part Two, Introduction and §1: The origin of religious delusion 420
4. Part Two, §2: The moral principle opposing religious delusion 427
12 Conscience as the Authentic Guide: Part Two, §§3–4 (R 175–90) 439
1. Part Two, §3: Appendix: The deception of priestery 439
2. Part Two, §3: Appendix: Teaching godliness without idolatry 451
3. Part Two, §4: (A) Conscience as the guide for church teaching 463
4. Part Two, §4: (B) Avoiding hypocrisy in affirming creeds 469
Appendix IV: Understanding Means of Grace as Indirect Service: The Fourth General Comment (R 190–202) 477
Glossary 501
Works Cited 537
Index 552
2020, a good year for bad religion
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My conception of bad religion owes something to New York … started writing about bad religion has produced caricatures he … grabbed attention for bad religion while many responsible faith … schisms and heresies.
American religion must become a public-spirited …
