The Fading, Indispensable Family Dinner
Good morning!
“Are we the last remaining family dining together?” Jemima Lewis asked in the Telegraph.
[BRIEF]
It’s a legitimate question. A 2025 survey showed only one third of UK families eat together every day. Of those, most struggle with actual conversation, instead getting absorbed in their phones at the table or watching TV while eating.
Numbers in the U.S. are slightly less dire, but distractions from technology are still extremely common. Only 2 in 5 families have a no-tech rule at mealtime.
“If you’re scrolling while eating, you’re not really at the table,” Lewis opined. “You might as well be horizontal on the sofa, pushing a Big Mac down your gullet. Which is exactly what the children would prefer. ‘Why can’t we eat separately, like normal families?’ my daughter often wails, and I find myself torn between laughter and grim determination.”
It’s easy to underestimate the value of something as simple as eating together as a family. Modern society has marshaled an array of forces to prevent it.
When my wife and I had three teenagers in the house, I had to find a window of no less than 20 minutes each evening amid competing schedules in which the five of us could dine as a family—it was different on each day of the week—and I literally set a timer so nobody would leave early. But in that too-short window—free of devices—we exercised our communication skills, we learned about each other, we practiced manners, we shared our lives.
Such experiences are what make a family. They become all the more important in our artificial, atomized, distracted world.
Make it a priority in your home. For more pointers on family dinners, read Chapter 8 of Child Rearing With Vision, “Make Your Family Life Active!”
Germany: France Must Boost Military Spending
France should spend more on defense, even if that means cutting other expenditures, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul says. On German public radio yesterday, Wadephul criticized French President Emmanuel Macron for “repeatedly and correctly speak[ing] of our pursuit of European sovereignty” but giving insufficient effort to achieve it.
- Wadephul called on France and other European governments to obtain additional military funds by cutting spending in other areas and to scrap Eurobonds and other joint European Union borrowing schemes. He urged European countries to implement nato’s defense spending target of 5 percent of gross domestic product by 2035.
His blunt assessment:
Anyone talking about independence from the U.S. today needs to do their homework first.
Trillion-dollar forces: If each EU member nation were spending 5 percent of its gdp on defense, the bloc’s cumulative defense budget would be nearly $1.1 trillion, just ahead of the United States. As things stand, however, the EU military budget is only about 40 percent of the U.S. military budget.
- France is Europe’s second-largest economy and has the world’s ninth-largest military by spending. Germany, which has the top economy in Europe and the world’s fourth-largest military, wants it to contribute more to European rearmament.
Germany wants France to contribute more, partially because the radical Alternative für Deutschland party is already trying to oust Chancellor Friedrich Merz by stirring up discontent over German deficit spending.
Bible prophecy: Revelation 17:12 prophesies of the rise of 10 kings leading 10 nations or groups of nations in Europe. Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 2023 that five of these 10 kings had already risen: Austria, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. The identity of the other five kings has not been revealed, but both Spain and Poland are proving to be vital military allies to Germany. Expect more nations to heed Wadephul’s call until Europe becomes a clear alliance of 10 powerful militaries.
China in Africa: Zero Tariffs, More Influence
Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping announced Saturday that his nation will lift tariffs on imports from 53 of Africa’s 54 countries, effective May 1.
China already had a zero-tariff policy in place for 33 African nations. Largely due to this policy, trade between China and Africa soared to $222 billion last year—up 15.4 percent year on year.
- With tariff-free access to Chinese markets now being expanded to nearly the entire continent, this figure could increase dramatically.
- Only the nation of Eswatini will continue to face duties on its exports to China, due to its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a nation the Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly threatened to conquer, diplomatically and militarily.
Chinese interests: The zero-tariff move comes as China is encircling Africa with port contracts that expand its maritime and military reach and as many African states are tilting away from the United States, partly due to steep tariffs introduced last year. It is expected to reinforce China’s standing as Africa’s foremost economic and geopolitical partner.
By expanding zero-duty access to almost all African economies with diplomatic relations with Beijing, China has effectively created the most comprehensive unilateral tariff concession framework currently available to African exporters among major trading partners.
—Carlton Oloo, China analyst
Biblical prophecy warns that nations worldwide are forming a trade network, with China as one of its main hubs. Its purpose will be to block America and some of its allies out of world trade. To understand, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches the Development of a Massive Anti-American Trade Bloc.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Poland needs its own nuclear weapons, according to Polish President Karol Nawrocki. “We should pursue the path toward developing our own Polish nuclear potential—in compliance with all international regulations, of course,” Nawrocki said in an interview with Polsat television on Sunday. “We must create the conditions necessary to work toward this goal. We are a country on the brink of armed conflict.” Poland plans to start building its first nuclear power plant in 2028. This East European nation, overrun by Russia in World War ii, has taken drastic actions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more than doubling its spending on conventional military weapons. It is part of nato and an ally of the nuclear-armed United States, but statements like Nawrocki’s show that the Poles no longer trust American nuclear protection. The late Herbert W. Armstrong forecast during the Cold War that Poland would break from the Soviet Union and contribute its military might to German-dominated Europe.
Russian casualties rising in Ukraine after Starlink blockage: After Elon Musk’s SpaceX blocked Russia’s illegal use of its Starlink satellite Internet service on February 1, Russian casualties have drastically risen. A Ukrainian intelligence official told the New York Post yesterday that the ratio of casualties between Russian and Ukrainian troops is usually 5:1 or 8:1, but with Starlink down, it is 13:1. Blocking Russia from Starlink has coincided with Ukrainian troops reclaiming territory faster than in 2024 or 2025, including close to 80 square miles between Wednesday and Sunday, according to one analysis. Though Ukraine’s position remains dire, the development illustrates the power of tech companies like SpaceX and the reliance of modern militaries on information technology.
Jews are main target of religious hate crimes in France: On Friday, the French Interior Ministry reported 2,489 offenses targeting religious minorities in France last year, 1,320 of which were anti-Semitic. A total of 843 were directed against Christians, and 326 were directed against Muslims (an 88 percent increase compared to 2024). Jews are by far the largest target, even though they make up only 0.6 percent of the population. (France is roughly 10 percent Muslim and 60 percent Christian.) By opening its gates to large Muslim populations and by repeatedly siding against the State of Israel, French society is becoming hostile to Jews. There is a reason why this is “the one minority society loves to hate.”
Britain plans alternative to U.S. credit cards: The heads of Britain’s largest banks are scheduled to hold their first meeting this week to establish a new payments company as an alternative to Mastercard and Visa. Currently, about 95 percent of credit card transactions in the United Kingdom use these two U.S.-based payments companies. Some warn that U.S. President Donald Trump could use this as leverage against Britain’s best interests. The move is a sign of Britain’s distrust both of the Trump administration and the U.S. economy.
Another shooting by another sexual deviant: A gunman who dressed as a woman murdered two people and injured three more at a high school hockey match in Rhode Island yesterday. Robert Dorgan, 56, shot his wife and three of his children, one federal agency told Fox News. This comes six days after a “gunperson in a dress” killed eight people in British Columbia. The connections between sexual deviancy, mental illness and mass shootings are becoming harder than ever to ignore. There is clearly something evil about the so-called lgbt movement: It involves “Modern-Day Child Sacrifice.”