Tom Parkhill

Mr Farage's estranged wife is German. His current partner is French.

Can anyone imagine France or Germany doing this? I can walk to France and return to Italy on the passport of choice, and they respect that. Not Britain. My wife and I can even vote in the UK, but she now can't enter without problems.

When we moved I registered with the embassy. I seem to remember they had sent me a sort of Ambassador's newsletter, way in the dim & distant. Tanya - more clued-up than me on these things - says they don't keep details, so probably they don't do this anymore.

It affects my wife too. And it's completely unnecessary.

You are right, £482 to renounce UK citizenship. You also need to prove your citizenship before renouncing, which may involve getting a passport. Where is Joseph Heller when you need him?

Dealing with the home office is a nightmare, and we are UK citizens!

New UK border rules for dual nationals are discriminatory against women, campaigners say British women in Spain and Greece face ‘huge problems’ entering UK because of differing surname rules

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Sanremo Is our nearest town. Anyone invading Italy would be unable to occupy Sanremo because of the traffic. The whole festival is a mystery to me.

Of course, this means that some UK citizens can vote in the UK, but not necessarily enter the UK without additional documentation. Like my wife Paola.
Performative security.

Interesting. I contacted the Rome embassy when I moved here, and they very occasionally (maybe once or twice)sent me some info.
Probably changed now, or maybe I remember badly :(

Agreed! The British embassy in Rome has the email address of most UK citizens living here, the least they could have done would have been to drop us a note. Otherwise, what's the point of having an embassy. After all, this means that we citizens would be refused entry to our own country (!!).

I don't think you can make the case. It will effectively be easier for many non-British citizens to get into the UK than for British citizens. And it shows a complete lack of trust of its own citizens by UK government. And yes. I'm affected by this.

I know it is pointless saying this but I will do it anyway. Just imagine the coverage there would be if a ferry or cruise ship had sunk in a storm in the Mediterranean with the loss of a thousand lives and compare it with the attention given to a thousand people in migrant boats drowning in a storm.

😐

Thanks. Paola is so angry about this that at the moment she'd prefer to relinquish UK citizenship.

My wife applied for UK citizenship in her own name. Eventually the Home Office granted it... in her married name. So to get a new UK passport she needs to change name. Easier to drop UK citizenship!

This will cause us problems, and there's absolutely no need for it. It is now easier for a non-UK citizen to enter the UK than it is for my wife (UK/Italian citizen, Italian passport).

Excellent thread, as usual.

But we can see that Metternich and raise it a John Donne; "every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me..."

Great thread, as always. I lived in Milan in those years, but I couldn't make sense of what was happening.

The BBC has a serious Scotland problem - so why is nobody talking about it? Neil Mackay on the BBC's alleged bias on independence, and what he views as the wider media silence eroding trust and fairness.

This by @neilmackay.bsky.social is so baffling. And it's true. Every time I was up in Scotland I was astonished about how badly under- and misrepresented the independence movemnt is on the BBC. While its still going strong.
Ignore this at your own peril.
Plus it also undermines the BBC's authority

Destination: Bethlehem

Families of Palestine Action hunger strikers seek urgent meeting with Lammy Justice secretary urged to ‘show a bit of humanity’ with protesters severely ill after refusing food for weeks

Is the government going to sit and watch while the #PalestineAction hunger strikers die? Is most of the media going to carry on ignoring them? Just how callous has the Establishment become?
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Try this en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_S...

And Dark Star Is a cult 1974 movie made by John Carpenter. Don't know what the focus groups made of that 🤔😊

No olives for us this year, seems the worst harvest in 20 years in the province of Imperia. We are planning to move, so this would have been our last harvest. Making our own olive oil has been one of the most fulfilling things we have ever done. And yes, bloody hard! Good luck, carpe diem!

The Ryanair syndrome.

Yes, I would be interested.

The EU should see public anger at Trump as an opportunity Leaders must stop pretending that things are better than they are

The EU should see public anger at Trump as an opportunity on.ft.com/46tvkOT | opinion

I once saw Baggio dominate Inter, where he got 8.5. Respect!