Actions you can take to register your disaffection with Brexit

I'd like to call this post 'Actions you can take to stop Brexit' but that would be a bit naive so the weasel-worded version will have to stand for now.

Petitions you might like to sign
Demand a people's vote
https://www.peoples-vote.uk/

If there is no agreement to leave the EU then brexit must be stopped
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219905 - at time of writing 109,189 signatures
 
Stop Brexit - at time of writing 21,448 signatures
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/226509

List of open petitions about Brexit (pro and anti) to Parliament
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions?q=Brexit&state=open

Urge amendment to secure a people's vote - 3,721 signatures
https://www.change.org/p/members-of-parliament-urgent-amendment-to-secure-a-people-s-vote

Brexit.. a second referendum -143,404 signatures
https://www.change.org/p/the-prime-minister-brexit-a-second-referendum?recruiter=574276334

Keep permanent EU citizenship even in event of Brexit
https://eci.ec.europa.eu/002/public/#/initiative
This requires not just UK folk to sign but a minimum number of people from each EU member country. More info from an earlier post from me.

Write to your MP
You can do this via WriteToThem and People's Vote has a pre-filled letter (you need to vary the text) letter to send. I sent something via that link but completely changed the text, a copy of that is here. Also you can do this via Not Buying It.

I've written to my MP asking him to support a People's Vote

I've written the following to my MP and as it was sent via an online form I've learned to capture a copy of the text before sending as there's no guarantee that the form will automatically CC me. Normally I just send a copy of the email to myself but I thought others might like to see it.

As far as I'm aware my MP accepts that Brexit is happening and is supporting it. I wish I'd added in my email some info about the fact that so many people seem to have changed their mind and the latest sampling evidence suggests that the narrow gap between Remain and Leave has widened considerably, in favour of Remain.

-----
https://www.peoples-vote.uk/write_this_wrong

Dear Matthew (Greenwich, but the geography is pretty irrelevant here)

Had the 2016 Referendum returned a vote of 70:30 or even 60:40 I probably wouldn't be writing to you to ask you to support a People's Vote. Such a close-run thing of 52:48 doesn't suggest a 'slam dunk' in favour of Britain leaving Europe.

Admittedly I've tried to avoid the endless minutiae of the Brexit rumblings but it now seems clear that information given before the Referendum was not clear and in some cases quite untrue. It also seems that I cannot avoid hearing about some new iffy thing the Leave campaign has perpetrated, whether it's financial or behavioural.

And then there's the equally unavoidable impression that 'Brexiting' is not going particularly well, either the discussions or the fact that so many organisations have highlighted potential future damage.
All this - an unconvincing Referendum result, suspicious campaigning activity from the Leave team, the gloomy predictions and the problems already at our door - makes me wonder what we're letting ourselves in for.

The public now has much greater information about what Brexit actually means, with more concrete examples.

Please, when considering the next deal, give us a chance to consider it too by letting us have a public vote, thank you.

I am happy to receive any reply by email to save paper / costs.

[Form has automated 'Yours sincerely' sign-off in place]

Science communication jobs in Europe - where to find info?

The ScicommJobs Posterous blog and accompanying Twitter feed occasionally has a job that's outside of the UK but mostly they're in London / UK because that's where I live and so that's what I tend to hear about or look for.

Is anyone doing a project that's similar to mine but in different countries around the world? I'd be keen to link up our respective scicomm jobs blogs in some sort of networking fashion.

Anyway I've been asked by someone from outside the UK where they can hear about jobs that are specifically in Europe. Do you have some helpful suggestions to add to mine?

1. Pick a country you like the look of and make a note of their scientific institutions, universities, museums, industries, government bodies etc and investigate their vacancies pages. That's pretty much what I began doing here: Science Communication Vacancies Pages.

2. Find out where jobs are advertised (eg newspapers, jobs sites, mailing lists that cover a particular geographic area). This will also help you find out more resources for (1).

3. Embassies might be a useful resource although to be honest I don't really know how they work. If you are French and want to work in Italy then I wonder if the Italian Embassy in France can help you - perhaps not with finding you a science communication job but certainly with practicalities. We also have the British Council which promotes British talent and expertise around the world. I'm assuming there are equivalents for other countries, in different countries. 

So... if you wanted to work in science communications in a European country - where would you start to get an idea of the scicomm landscape there?