Flight to safety
The flight from Budapest to the safety of the West
Neighbours feared each other in a grey oppressive world. 200,000 decided the flight to democracy in the West was better for their families
Author: Magdalena Williams
Magdalena Williams came to the U.K. from Vienna in 1970 to attend her mother’s wedding and chose to make the U.K. her home. She undertook several career changes until her retirement in 2016 from the then Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She started as a teacher of Hungarian and German to diplomats and finished in the Nigeria Team which was inter alia looking at how to defeat Boko Haram. Before joining the FCO, she worked as a psychologist in hospitals and ran creative therapy workshops in prisons and clinics. Her interest in writing was first raised when she decided to research her family history and leave a record of how her mother, the daughter of a landed gentry family in Hungary fleeing Communism, first to Vienna then Germany, ended up in rural Kent. Magdalena is an ardent Remain campaigner, a Green Party member and she will proudly be forever European.
How I became a child refugee in 1956
Hungarians resisted till 10 November; they realised no one was going to help them fight the Russians. On 21 December I became a child refugee
BOOK REVIEW
How to be an alien – tribute to Mikes
How to be an alien gives an insight about the English of the 40/50’s through satire by a Hungarian born journalist.
Parental leave: how much time with your children?
Shared parental leave was introduced in the UK in 2015 but only 1% of dads take it up. UK is behind in pay for parental leave to fathers
CLEANER FARMING
Do you worry about the standard of food your children eat?
The high standard of food produced by farmers and available in the UK shops must be maintained in new trade agreements government negotiates
👭🏽 DISCRIMINATION
“Go back to where you come from” say the bullies
Bullies often say to migrants “go back to where you come from” however long they may have lived in the country
Parliamentary Scrutiny Coordinator of EU decisions tells how it was
Parliamentary scrutiny should be a complex and lengthy process. What are the current processes for scrutinising trade deals?
Costly travel to take pets to the EU
Taking a pet on holiday to the EU has become costly and complicated since Brexit. Pet owners are now faced with difficult choices.
EUROPEAN TRAVELSTUDENT WELFARE
Au pair students stopped from coming to Kent
Magdalena Williams writes about Au Pairs, and the benefits for both young people, and host families. The Au Pair exchange programme has become increasingly difficult since Brexit though.
Save the oaks
750,000 young oak trees due for planting may be destroyed by nursery owners who blame delays in government help for woodland creation.