The daily Jornal de Notícias recalls the inequalities rampant in society and wishes that people would be generous not only at Christmas: "In many countries it seems people have decided that December is the month when everyone must be good. Plastic bags are pressed into our hands in the supermarkets for us to fill with groceries for the poor. Celebrations are organised at hospitals to bring a moment's happiness to the sick, and every radio and television station has its own charity campaign. Then after January 6 things go back to normal and we go back to being less generous. How do the poor and sick survive the rest of the year? ... Unfortunately not even Christmas can make me forget how much evil there is in this world. People die of hunger while a well-known football player complains he earns less than 15,000 euros a month. Others are homeless while bank managers are being investigaed for filling their pockets with millions every day. As long as such gross inequalities exist in society our generosity should not be limited to Christmas!" (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Minorities, » Weltanschauung, » Global
All available articles from » Sérgio de Andrade

The Christmas tree at Sindagma Square in Athens' city centre has become a target for activists and autonomists following the recent riots. On Saturday activists decorated the tree with rubbish. The riot police has since formed a protective circle around the tree. The daily Eleftherotypia describes the absurd scene and asks what the police is trying to achieve: "Was the police protecting the tree from dirt? Or making sure the decorations were hung up in the right order? ... What was the clever clogs who informed the police that the tree was under threat trying to do? Bring down the system? That's just it. We perceive things as those in power choose to present them, and no one can change it when the powers that be give the order. This is authoritarianism in its purest form. This is what we have now, and in the past few weeks we have experienced it intensely." (22/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Social movements, » Weltanschauung, » Greece
All available articles from » Giorgos Papadopoulos-Tetradis

La Tribune de Genève describes the excitement in Spain over the annual Christmas lottery: "Corks fly from bottles of sparkling wine in Gari's bar. Ricardo, the barkeeper, weeps, sings, hugs and laughs all at the same time. A number is on everyone's lips: 80,076! The third winning number in the Christmas drawing of the national lottery. It was 'the' number on the tickets sold by Ricardo, and all the regulars at this modest bar had bought one. ... Enough to pay back part of the mortgage or other debts, to buy a new car or take a trip ... and above all 'have a bit of fun'. ... Spain holds the European record for lottery participation. But the traditional Christmas lottery has a special place, and has the country holding its breath. This year the crisis and the morose economic perspectives have added to the suspense. ... Each year the lottery is the subject of unbridled passion. It is the stuff of fairy tales, when good fortune strikes a bar frequented by immigrants, or a village where a factory has had to close down." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Consumers, » Spain
All available articles from » Cécile Thibaud

The daily Financial Times Deutschland pictures a Christmas scene in Germany: "This year there's clear soup for the starter. Mother wants to keep things simple at a time like this. Rubbish, says grandmother. Someone has to make up for the losses now that there's a global crisis in demand. Otherwise there'll be a downwards spiral. Spending less won't help things at all. That's right, Werner chimes in, the state must intervene. He can no longer recall ever having been against economic stimulus programmes. Now's the time to lash out and spend. Cheers! ... Suddenly grandmother shrieks. The crib is on fire. ... Monika weeps. Klaus warns against actionism. Somehow everything will work out again. ... Once the firemen leave mother pours everyone a glass of schnapps. ... Grandmother settles down to read Keynes. By candlelight. The collected works. Perhaps the worst can still be averted. Merry Christmas." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Financial Markets, » Weltanschauung, » Germany
All available articles from » Thomas Fricke

The daily Dnevnik comments on the political situation in Belgium, where Prime Minister Yves Leterme has resigned after allegedly exerting influence on a court decision. In Bulgaria, according to the newspaper, a governmental crisis like this would have had a different outcome, particularly as it claims the Supreme Judicial Council, the equivalent of Belgium's supreme court, is not politically neutral: "The parliament has a quota of 11 people, three others are appointed by the president. This means that 14 of the 25 people [who make up the Council] - a secure majority - are closely linked to the government. We should not deceive ourselves that the conduct of the politicians would be different were the Supreme Judicial Council to have a different structure. . ... We have lost hundreds of millions and billions in EU funding, a minister met up with someone who is suspected of being involved in organised crime, another has a very dubious contract with Russia's Gazprom; people were burnt alive in a train and basically we're seeing one scandal and tragedy after another - and no one resigns." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Domestic Policy, » Bulgaria
All available articles from » Lachesar Lisicov

Owing to the lack of border controls in the Schengen area, people who are expelled from Denmark for committing criminal offences can re-enter the country unnoticed. The Copenhagen newspaper Berlingske Tidende reported on this and now writes in a commentary: "Naturally it's not very reassuring when a foreigner who has been caught trafficking and expelled from the country for life turns up in again Denmark. If this happens the regulations need to be stricter. Because by no means can we tolerate a gradual erosion of the Shengen regulations, which are so important for free movement on the labour market. ... It's necessary to take a tough stance on criminality, but it's also important to work together, not least to prevent criminals from returning. Not the proposals for harsher punishment and fines will solve the problem, but cooperation among the Schengen countries." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Denmark, » Europe

Tyrannicide is the only solution for Zimbabwe because the country's dictator Robert Mugabe will not budge under public pressure, writes the daily De Volkskrant: "In antique times tyrannicide was a legitimate solution. Now people seem to abhor it. That was clear when Sadam Hussein was hung and people called it barbaric. No, barbaric is how I would describe Sadam Hussein's regime. And it is how I would describe the way the Iraqis subsequently let loose on each other. And it well describes ... the American method of war and occupation. Amidst all this barbarity the few minutes in which a tyrant is suspended between heaven and earth are for me among civilisation's most minor errors. One must ask oneself what is more reprehensible: military intervention to oust Mugabe, resulting in thousands of dead civilians, or a single murder." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Africa
All available articles from » Thomas van der Dunk

The announcement of the US that it will double its forces in Afghanistan prompts Stockholm's evening newspaper Expressen to comment on Sweden's operations there: "We shouldn't deceive ourselves that this war can be ended through military means. It requires a multifaceted strategy - approaching the conflict on a regional level, reconstruction, pressure on President Hamid Karzai, the battle against corruption and dialogue with members of the Taliban who are willing to negotiate. ... Sweden's Afghanistan policy is also changing. Development aid has been substantially increased and is also being distributed in the North, where the Swedish contingent is stationed. In Kabul an embassy is finally being opened and after careful consideration the parliament has agreed to send more troops to Mazar-i Sharif. But this awakening to the situation comes very late and there are still many deficits as far as the safety of the soldiers is concerned." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Sweden, » U.S., » Middle East

The number of prison inmates has risen dramatically in the US and Europe since the 1980s, and the majority of them are poor. There is method here, writes Tanja Lesničar Pučk in her column on Dnevnik newspaper's website: "Those in power spread the following message: our streets are increasingly unsafe, there are more and more pickpockets, dealers and addicts. We must put a stop to all this, they said, and introduced the catchword 'zero tolerance'. ... But one small thing was left unmentioned in all the fuss over morals: this was also the golden age of capitalist plundering in which state money for social projects was redirected into capital projects. ... Then came the next question: what to do with all the disturbing elements, the alcoholics, drug addicts and homeless? ... Some needed therapy (which does not come for free!) and others social assistance. Prison ... was the simplest and cheapest solution. ... The prison industry flourished, and state funds were put into high walls with barbed wire instead of programmes for the jobless or other social projects. The resourceful capitalists ... then founded private jails and utility companies that sell their products and services to the state. ... Why bother modifying penal policy when you can earn so much the way things stand now?" (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Europe, » U.S.
All available articles from » Tanja Lesnicar-Pucko

In the Prague newspaper Pražský deník, journalist and writer Karel Hvížďala describes former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt on his 90th birthday as "the most popular German of the moment". In the battle against the terrorists of the Red Army Faction (RAF) Schmidt became the "nation's darling. He gave Germans the opportunity to fully identify with their democratic state. Schmidt was chancellor from 1974 until 1982 - not that long really. He didn't strengthen ties with the West, as Adenauer did; he was not the architect of Ostpolitik like Brandt, nor did he reunite Germany, like Helmut Kohl. Yet he still commanded great respect. Current Chancellor Angela Merkel has said of him that he always inspired trust in people. This is the best compliment you can pay a politician. ... One of Schmidt's rules is still valid: 'Any solution to a crisis must be simple so that people understand it.' This ties in with the current belief that it is necessary to dispel the negative mood in society in a crisis, to instil a new sense of optimism and bring people together instead of splitting them up." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » History, » Germany
All available articles from » Karel Hvížďala

An entire generation of young Italians will be given their marching orders this Christmas. Three million young employees will lose their jobs and have no right to social assistance come the end of the year when their temporary contracts expire. The left-liberal newspaper La Reubblica comments: "True unemployment is hitting the weakest section of society, the most precarious, the apprentices and part-time workers. They don't need to be laid off, their contracts are simply not renewed. .. Flexibility means easier hiring procedures, and now we are seeing the reverse side of the coin with easier dismissals. ... In the next few days the moment of truth, the non-renewal of their contract, will extinguish the lights of Christmas for many young people. ... The current economic crisis is not to be compared with others because rather than affecting one sector or another it is hitting an entire generation, the precarious generation who have just signed their first - temporary - contracts. ... Three million precarious, sixty percent of whom are under 35." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Italy, » Europe
All available articles from » Maurizio Ricci

The construction of a mosque in the centre of Ljubljana has triggered an intense discussion there. The daily Večer points in a commentary to the right of all religions to be treated equally enshrined in the Slovenian constitution: "The truth is we don't even have a single mosque yet but we Slovenians have already come up with a plethora of anti-Islamic arguments against them. The construction of the mosque would be a rare symbol of the equality of religious communities here in Slovenia. ... But the question remains, what can we do? The building of the mosque would provide Slovenia with an object of culture such as all Europe's major cities already have. ... The average citizen can do their bit by adopting a tolerant stance, making intolerant people aware of their behaviour and resisting the ploys of inflammatory politicians." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Religion, » Integration, » Minorities, » Slovenia
All available articles from » Srečo Dr. Dragoš

Many people in Spain are hopeful that the Spanish language will continue to gain influence in the US. César García Múñoz explains in the daily El Mundo why he doesn't believe Spanish will grow stronger there. He points to the increased integration of Latinos, as well as dwindling immigration and cultural political reasons: "I fear that the future of Spanish in the US depends on the ability not just of us Spanish but of the other Spanish-speaking peoples to appreciate the value of Spanish-produced culture and promote it and use our language in the area of sciences and knowledge. The [Spanish culture] Cervantes Institute does valuable work (which should have begun decades ago), but it would be better if there were major universities in Spanish-speaking countries where high-level scientific work is done, or schools - like the French or German ones - where children can be educated in Spanish. There are no such schools in any of the major US cities." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Cultural Policy, » Migration, » Integration, » Demographics, » Latin Amerika, » U.S.
All available articles from » César García Múñoz

The Guardian celebrates the British tradition of the Christmas fairy tale [the "pantomime" or "panto"] for its ability to bring together people of many different cultures: "There is something quite primal about the power of panto. It is possible (and fascinating) to draw a social history of Britain that mirrors the history of the form, ending with our own tawdry celebrity culture. Politicians who are concerned about integration and British values should have been in our community centre last week, where cast and audience were drawn from every culture, colour and creed, all throwing themselves into the most British of traditions. Our king was played by a distinguished, heavily-bearded, Punjabi-accented British Sikh. 'So let me get this straight,' he said at rehearsal. 'The prince and his best friend are played by women, and the two ugly sisters are played by men?' He pondered this casting for a moment before adding:'So why can't I be Cinderella?' It makes you proud to be British." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Stage, » Integration, » United Kingdom
All available articles from » Ally Fogg

A few months before the parliamentary elections the broadcasting council in the Republic of Moldova has not automatically extended the broadcasting license for the Romanian private TV station Pro TV, which expires today. The weekly Dilema Veche doubts whether it will do so at all: "The truth is that Pro TV can be a thorn in Chisinau's side. Moldovans learned from Pro TV that their interior minister possibly has a fake degree, the station reported on a bus in which 200 kilos of heroine were found, and that employees of the interior ministry are potentially involved in drug trafficking. In Moldova's media landscape, where TV is controlled by political parties, Pro TV has demonstrated courage and been punished for it. ... Thus disappears one of the most popular television stations in the Republic of Moldova, a country the majority of whose citizens see the television as their main source of information." (23/12/2008)

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More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Audiovisual Media, » Media policy, » South East Europe, » Romania
All available articles from » Luca Niculescu