November 2022

Dear friends,Here we go again with the latest from Olivier! Let’s start with some bad news, namely the situation of NewB (www.newb.coop) which failed to collect enough capital to pursue their banking activity. We are very sad; we shall know soon whether the cooperative will be maintained for non banking purposes or has to be…

September 2022

Dear friends, We are back after two months in our paradise in the Dordogne. For me it was a first in 25 years, two full months!! We had visits from several friends who shared the hot weather and the delight of living together in a group with us. Two sorts of liquids, water in the…

April 2022

Dear friends, I hope you are all as well as possible in these difficult times! We all hope that life will rapidly become easier and more bearable. Meanwhile we notice how the pandemic has begun to alter the attitudes and choices of people. One of the changes we see is a clear trend, everywhere in…

Boites aux lettres

November 2021

Time flies … SIREAS will be 60 next year, ATEB (Association of corporate treasurers in Belgium) which I started with several friends in 1991 is now 30, EMMI was founded in 1999 which makes it 22 years old, microStart just celebrated its 10 years and NewB was created in 2011, as was Alumni Europae, so…

July 2021

Hello everyone! There is this definite feel of holidays all around; that’s great because it translates into being able to travel and meet up with family and friends again !!!  For us it means returning to our house in the Dordogne where we haven’t been since the end of last summer. This summer family and friends…

November 2020

Dear friends,   First of all, I hope that all of you are as well as possible in this disrupted world. I am more than ever aware of how privileged I am, with a large and beautiful appartment including a terrace, a small park just in front,  a little supermarket around the corner and a…

Summer 2020

Summer 2020 ….an exceptional period for most of us. We lost many people due to Covid-19; elderly people and others who were vulnerable because of underlying health conditions, their precarious social situation or because they were frontline workers. After several months of trial and error we are beginning to understand what needs to be done…

November 2019

Dear, The end of the year is near and I am beginning to draft my Newsletter on the day we celebrate the 11th of November. Few of us know someone who has lived then but we must certainly not forget. The vagueness in the political attitude of European citizens is highly worrying. It’s not only…

July 2019

Dear friends, It has become a tradition for me to keep you posted on what goes on in my life, so here is coverage of the first six months of 2019. So far 2019 has been more positive for me than the end of 2018. Well,more or less… rather less at the personal level,because Barbara…

December 2018

Dear friends, You may have noticed that contrary to a 5 year long tradition you didn’t get my biannual newsletter in the summer although I had drafted one…..it had met with censureship by my « Soviet councillor » aka my wife who thought it focussed too much on gouvernance issues and would therefore not attract everybody’s…