๐ Schengen
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Schengen โHave you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.โ
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj Happy people, no ugly German border controls!
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@fj And if you fall off, can you go to hospital in either country?
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@fj Imagine this 80 years ago! It is remarkable how far we came from a continent always at war. Not everything is perfect, but we are on the right track.
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like this:
in the beginning of 1963, the town of Elten was Dutch, but on August 1, it became German
Dutch and German traders moved their trucks into Elten with all sorts of cargo in late July that was usually subject to import tax (butter, coffee, etc)
so when the borders shifted Aug 1, there was no import tax, because the goods hadn't moved
the event became known as "Eltener Butternacht": Butter Night
it was so huge they had to do road repairs
Eltener Butternacht maakte exporteurs rijk
Op 31 juli 1963, vandaag 47 jaar geleden gebeurde het: De Eltener Butternacht, een bijzondere anekdote in de Nederlands-Duitse geschiedenis.
Duitsland Instituut (duitslandinstituut.nl)
and that is exactly *why* the EU exists (and why it was a daft idea for folk in the UK to vote to leave it and now we are all in a mess because of that decision)
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The US and the UK are alike in suffering vast consequences for this far right upwelling of stupidity. We both have a lot of fixing to do. I'm pretty sure the UK will slowly rejoin the EU piecemeal
Like this:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/uk/britain-erasmus-european-union-student-intl
All the ignorance and lies but what makes sense still and always will make sense and never goes away. Time and clearer minds will do their thing
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Schengen
โHave you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.โ
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj
Does anyone know if swing safety regulations are harmonised in the Benelux countries? -
Schengen
โHave you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.โ
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj That is the kind of politics I can get behind.
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The US and the UK are alike in suffering vast consequences for this far right upwelling of stupidity. We both have a lot of fixing to do. I'm pretty sure the UK will slowly rejoin the EU piecemeal
Like this:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/17/uk/britain-erasmus-european-union-student-intl
All the ignorance and lies but what makes sense still and always will make sense and never goes away. Time and clearer minds will do their thing
If the UK held a second referendum on rejoining the EU tomorrow then 'Rejoin' would win, but the same dark forces that campaigned for Brexit in the initial referendum haven't gone away and their reasons for leaving the EU haven't changed.
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@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
"the same dark forces that campaigned for Brexit in the initial referendum haven't gone away"
and how do we fix it?
this plutocrat-bigot political axis
i'm not asking like i know the answer. it's a huge problem
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@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
"the same dark forces that campaigned for Brexit in the initial referendum haven't gone away"
and how do we fix it?
this plutocrat-bigot political axis
i'm not asking like i know the answer. it's a huge problem
@benroyce @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
Me neither but this map of it has stayed with me https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/114437610906205685
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@benroyce @ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
Me neither but this map of it has stayed with me https://mastodon.social/@urlyman/114437610906205685
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@BenAveling Oh, this typical nitpicking of Mastodon!
Listen, if you find a person bleeding so much, call the urgency number (there are even international ones). An ambulance crew will arrive immediately, organised by the emergency services control centre (working across the border in such regions), and take the person to the nearest hospital (regardless of the country).
And if you have a problem that nationality doesn't play a role while saving people, just don't leave your bed. -
@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
"the same dark forces that campaigned for Brexit in the initial referendum haven't gone away"
and how do we fix it?
this plutocrat-bigot political axis
i'm not asking like i know the answer. it's a huge problem
As bad as the US looks at the moment, there has always been an influential group of mostly privileged people in the UK who wish that Britain would adopt a similar approach to America's far-right.
....worth remembering here that there were significant factions in both the US and the UK that supported Fascist Germany in the 1930s.
@vfrmedia @metaphil @fj -
Schengen
โHave you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.โ
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
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As bad as the US looks at the moment, there has always been an influential group of mostly privileged people in the UK who wish that Britain would adopt a similar approach to America's far-right.
....worth remembering here that there were significant factions in both the US and the UK that supported Fascist Germany in the 1930s.
@vfrmedia @metaphil @fj@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
germany's (self made) wounds were so huge they had a culture shift
but usa and uk, where the same nascent fascism as germany also was, never had such a reckoning
for a long time the generations that saw the war recognized it and kept it in check
but those generations died off
and so it was just a matter of time before they hit upon a strategy that allowed them to come to the fore on minds that did not learn from history and do not understand the threat
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Belgium has plenty crazy "borders" in the east, too - exclaves and enclaves with Germany - 1st & 2nd WorldWar related...
On the pic you can run/walk Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands also within a second.
It's a nice place to visit and btw. the highest point of continental Netherland (322m above sea level) - 30km south is Belgiums highest point with 694m
@CannaParts @stf @fj My kids did this! We were there three years ago. https://ohpiglet.github.io/ohpiglet/2023/05/10/multiple-quick-visits-to-the-netherlands-germany-and-belgium/
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Schengen
โHave you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the towns of Baarle-Hertog-Nassau, you can fly from the Netherlands into Belgium and back.โ
Borders are a construct, but this swing isn't
Have you ever wanted to fly across a border more than 40 times in one minute? No? As of last month, you can do it anyway: By hopping on a swing in the
The European Correspondent (europeancorrespondent.com)
@fj Schengen is great. I crossed the SwissโFrench border almost every day for 4 years. Not sure how many times I got stopped on the public border (we also had a private border crossing with a gate) but it was maybe once or twice a year.
My office was in Switzerland, but I usually ate lunch in our cafeteria just up the road in France.
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@ReggieHere @vfrmedia @metaphil @fj
germany's (self made) wounds were so huge they had a culture shift
but usa and uk, where the same nascent fascism as germany also was, never had such a reckoning
for a long time the generations that saw the war recognized it and kept it in check
but those generations died off
and so it was just a matter of time before they hit upon a strategy that allowed them to come to the fore on minds that did not learn from history and do not understand the threat
That's a net summary.
I think Germany's experience was an object lesson to fascist groups, but the vast number of battle hardened and military-trained service men returning from a war and wanting social reform was a factor too.
The post-WW2 consensus was built on an Establishment fear of old institutions being deposed in favour of new socialist states.
....afterall, the economic reforms of the 1980s coincided with the collapse of the USSR.
