DEBATING EUROPE

Debating Europe is an innovative online platform launched in partnership with the European Parliament, to allow citizens discuss their ideas on vital issues shaping our future. You can  debate with Europe's leaders. Join now! Visit them in facebook or go to their website. They heavily rely on social media. Last week they were liveblogging British Prime Minister David Cameron's EU speech and people joined the debate.

BEHIND SPAIN'S TURMOIL. JOHN CARLIN

'Behind Spain's turmoil lies a cronyism that stifles the young and ambitious.The country needs more than a bailout. It needs a revolutionary change in its hidebound social structures'.

This article appeared on the Observer on Sunday 30 Sept. 2012. and I quote: 

'Here's the news from Spain last week, in case anybody missed it: huge cuts in government spending; higher taxes; biting austerity; unemployment higher than in Greece; big and growing demonstrations in Madrid; violent clashes with police; and in Catalonia, a rising clamour for secession. The only hope on the horizon takes the ambiguous form of an expected financial rescue package, with still more austerity strings attached, from the richer countries of the north'.

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US CAMPAIGN RESUMES AFTER SANDY

Excellent update at BBC site. Both teachers and learners will find it useful to check out the above heading at the 'Words in the press' section. You can read reports, listen to them, download them or check relevant vocabulary. I would recommend as well: 'Challenges remain after Sandy'

HOW TO HELP - HURRICANE SANDY

I'm sure many of you know, the New York Marathon was called off,  but many of the runners got out and headed to Staten island to help out with relief efforts. For those of us both near and far who would like to give a hand, I would suggest donating money to the Red Cross by text or through iTunes, helping out on eBay or Amazon, or local Food Banks.

ASSESSING THE DAMAGE FROM HURRICANE SANDY

The New York Times has recently published a number of graphics on the damage from hurricane Sandy. Check out the Web for news on Oyster Creek nuclear plant in New Jersey.

UK GOVERNMENT CUTS AND NEO-VICTORIAN NARRATIVE

Search for a series of brief articles under the banner 'The UK in 2017' in wich the authors imagine the effects of UK government cuts. Patrick Butler's satyrical piece on social inequalities is particularly brilliant on its comparison to Dickens' writings. Gloomy prospect.

JIM ROGERS ON EU SPAIN BANK BAILOUT

Guest to CNBC's Fast Money last June, financial guru described the bailout of the Spanish banking sector as 'absurd economics' in a controversial interview that set internet on fire. Worth checking out.