As some 700 gay couples in England legally tied the knot Wednesday, the daily says the prime minister "was entitled to his moment of pride over the new [Civil Partnership Act]. (...) A social revolution has taken place this week, but without serious controversy or resistance. Think back a generation, and yesterday's scenes would have been unimaginable. Of course, it remains true that some gay people still face prejudice and sometimes much worse. But what happened yesterday was an affirmation of how much has changed and can still change for the better. It was a good day for tolerance and for Britain." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Sociedad, » Gran Bretaña

"The fact that one of the queerest and most eccentric stars of the musical scene has donned the ceremonial suit and tie of a young groom to take his vows with his partner, before celebrating their union with pomp in his manor house, should no more surprise us than shock us," according to the editorial writer Patrick Sabatier. "The follies of Sir Elton are emblematic of the 'Britattitude'. It has always been able to make eccentricity one of the pillars of the kingdom's identity." For the journalist, "Elton John's marriage is testament to the fact that homosexuals' right to live their lives as others do has become a commonplace of democratic societies. It forces us to ask ourselves why France, which gave the impression of being such a pioneer in this area, today seems to be at an impasse in its rejection of gay marriage."   (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Sociedad, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Patrick Sabatier

In Latvia too, the legal status of marriage is the subject of fierce debate. The Christian conservative "Latvia's First Party" (LPP) has proposed a constitutional amendment which establishes marriage as an institution between a man and a woman and which would effectively prevent same-sex marriages. Aivars Ozolins regards this as "silly" and "unnecessary". "This poses the question of whether heterosexual relationships are really to be considered as an expression of 'Latvianness', a testimony to 'national values' or even a 'patriotic act'. Militant homophobics are constantly trying to put homosexuals on par with criminal paedophiles, sodomists or necrophiliacs, although most people know that sex between two members of the same sex is not a crime. Are there really so many people with inferiority complexes in Latvia that feel the need to wear their heterosexuality as if it were a sign of quality?" (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Letonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Aivars Ozolins

"2005 was not a good year for the leaders of major EU member states such as France, Germany, Italy and Great Britain," writes columnist Paul Lendvai. "Gerhard Schröder, German Chancellor for many years, lost much of his political and even more of his moral credibility owing to his involvement with Gasprom. French President Jacques Chirac looks like an actor without a script in a play without a director. There is currently just one leading politician whose international reputation has actually been enhanced, despite his oppression of political parties, the arbitrariness of his country's state-manipulated judicial system, the corruption of society and state control of his country's most important media: Vladimir Putin, who rose from being an anonymous KGB lieutenant colonel to become an extremely successful populist and Russian president. The heads of state and government of large and small countries alike shake hands in Moscow, while the bankers and industrialists they have in tow sign lucrative deals." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Paul Lendvai

"More than two months after the controversy broke out over the 'positive' effects of colonisation, and the official discomfort over the bicentennary of Austerlitz, about twenty of the most prominent French historians have decided to break their silence," writes Jacques de Saint-Victor, referring to a petition entitled, 'Freedom for history!'. "This stance-taking attests to the deep sense of unease that has been incubating in the historical community for several years now. Driven by the best intentions in the world, the French lawmaker has in effect acquired a taste for legislating in the historical domain." In the journalist's view, "memory is becoming increasingly something that involves setting forth demands, lodging legal complaints. Indeed, something full of hatred. Nothing is more unhealthy than this, for if no one is responsible for his ancestors, they are, on the other hand, accountable for the degree of hatred that they pass down to future generations." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Historia, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Jacques de Saint-Victor

Following the tumultuous departure from Milan's La Scala [opera house] of an upset Ricardo Muti, the journalist Francesco Merlo offers a litany of ailments afflicting Italian society: "Ricardo Muti and La Scala, along with the crisis surrounding Fiat, decentralisation, the elevation of the crooner Adriano Celentano to the ranks of master-thinker, and the weakening of the Ferrari engines in the Formula One." He sees in all this " the expression of Italy's disarray, and the decadence of a country that once occupied the leading position in the fields of aesthetics, fashion, design and especially classical music, of which La Scala was the symbol. (...) Once again we see this hysterical Italy that rejects the high-speed train and the bridge of Messina, that pits God against gays, the embryo against women, and the Cross against the Crescent." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Sociedad, » Italia
Todos los textos disponible de » Francesco Merlo

Tony Blair's inspired retort to a British eurosceptic who declared the EU budget summit a resounding defeat for Britain was a "moment of truth" for the prime minister, writes international affairs editor Quentin Peel. "'You sit with our country's flag. You do not represent our country's interests,' Mr. Blair shot back [during a return visit to the European parliament in Brussels on Tuesday]. 'This is the year 2005, not 1945.' It was great parliamentary repartee, but it was more. It was a cry of anger and frustration from a British prime minister who feels pro-European and yet has never quite had the courage of his convictions." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Quentin Peel

The daily rejects a motion adopted by the Dutch parliament on Tuesday calling upon the government to prohibit the wearing of burkas in public places. "Accepting forms of behavior and viewpoints that most people do not share is what tolerance is all about," the paper explains, adding that this type of prohibition is not a matter for the Hague. "The government has no place making rules about the wearing of indecent clothing in the street."   (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Holanda

The weekly examines the practice of certain Western European countries and the US of testing applicants for citizenship in their knowledge of the language, history and culture of the country in question. "In Great Britain there has been continuous debate on the question of whether social solidarity would be damaged if immigrants were no longer required to conform to a minimum in terms of common values and cultural conventions." The "British question" in the citizenship test is: "What does a good citizen do if he accidentally knocks over somebody's beer? The correct answer is: I buy him a new beer." But even experts are likely to have problems answering the following question which features in the US citizenship test: "What is the task of the UN? a) It discusses the problems of the world and tries to solve them, b) it ends civil wars, c) it protects the US, d) it rules the world." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Gran Bretaña

Lawmakers have spent years revising Polish media laws. Now the new Government, with the support of the populist parties, has managed to pass a controversial resolution in an express procedure. Piotr Pacewicz explains the rush. "The administrative bodies of state TV and radio stations are due to be re-elected in January and the governing party "PiS" wants to position its people on the controlling committee, the "State Radio and Television Council", in a move to strengthen its influence on TV and radio broadcasting. A paragraph that gives the broadcasting committee powers to determine issues pertaining to journalistic ethics has also provoked heavy criticism. "During the socialist era, the censor was responsible for such matters. Now, five politicians on the new controlling committee will be entrusted with this task – three of whom belong to Kaczynski's party, while the other two were selected by the populists who backed the new law and played a role in designing it." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Medios de comunicación, » Polonia
Todos los textos disponible de » Piotr Pacewicz

Alain Jeannet writes about the experiment conducted by his newspaper, whereby journalists from the paper have been filing daily dispatches from the Parisian suburbs since the October violence. "Our long-term reporting from the Paris suburbs shows how fertile journalism based on immersion can be. It also reveals the extraordinary degree to which the Internet and the printed magazine complement one another in covering the news. What we see is that a period of turbulence - but also of new prospects - is beginning for traditional media. With the emergence of tools such as blogs, readers, listeners and TV viewers... are challenging the journalists' monopoly of public expression. They are now free to have their say. Can one resist this groundswell? No way: the press must adapt its journalism to become more interactive and participatory."   (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Medios de comunicación, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Alain Jeannet

The EU has approved the Wine Agreement with the USA, under which synthetic wines produced in the US can be sold in Europe in the future. "Is Western civilisation under threat? Western civilisation is always under threat. That's why the American attack on Europe's wine culture is no reason to panic. The loud cries of moral indignation have a false ring to them. Wine has always been watered down. It's just as much a part of Western culture as pulling the wool over people's eyes." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Eckhard Fuhr

"A thumb in the nose of all those right-thinking types who believe art has to be serious, the Casino-Forum's latest exhibition of contemporary art, entitled Joy, is an initiative that verges on the provocative. Yes, art can be joyous, for the artists as well as the spectators!" proclaims Marie-Laure Rolland. "Twenty or so artists brought together by Enrico Lunghi and Lara Boubnova provide a welcome fresh breeze to chase away the current mood of gloominess. As Enrico Lunghi [the exhibition's curator] explains, the goal is not to impose some preconceived notion of joy . 'We have no theory about joy. Each person has a different way of expressing it or feeling it. But it is clear, throughout the exhibition, that joy is not some sort of blind euphoria with respect to the world around us."  (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura, » Luxemburgo
Todos los textos disponible de » Marie-Laure Rolland

The journalist Ana Romero tells the story of the playwright Gary Mitchell, nicknamed the "Rushdie of Northern Ireland", who was forced to leave Belfast this week with his family. "Mitchell, one of the most innovative voices in European theatre, had to flee the neighbourhood of Rathcoole where he had spent his entire life, due to death threats from protestant loyalists within his own community." His problems with the UDA [Ulster Defence Association], the most powerful of the armed protestant groups in Northern Ireland, began in 2001 with his book, 'As the beast sleeps'. It relates the story of a man who strives to remain loyal to his wife, his best friend, and his boss within the UDA. "But the peace process is moving forward, and he feels lost amid the political transition. Doubts that the UDA sees as betrayal," the journalist explains. (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Irlanda
Todos los textos disponible de » Ana Romero

Historian Roman Urbaner has discovered a text written by Austrian author Robert Musil as editor of a military publication at Christmas 1916. According to Urbaner, the text is surprisingly conformist, pro-war prose. "We wait and know that we will continue to do our duty as long as necessary. We are not to blame if the spring snow turns from white to red. We are defending and they are attacking. This is what our conscience tells us this, as it did two and a half years ago, and that won't help them one bit." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura, » Austria
Todos los textos disponible de » Robert Musil

As a respectable middle-class citizen, 38-year-old Asa Sandell works as chief editor for the culture section of Helsingborgs Dagblad. But she has another career – as a professional boxer. In an interview led by Jenny Sköld, Sandell explains why she now intends to move to New York to focus exclusively on her career in sport. "You can't be a boxer forever but you can be a journalist till the end of your days. At the moment, I'm more interested in boxing. When you're boxing you live only for the moment, without thinking. It's more about acting than analysing." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura, » Suecia
Todos los textos disponible de » Asa Sandell

"Historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson once wrote that people entered local politics when they were unhappily married. My God, how many unhappy marriages there must be in Slovenia," Boris Jež exclaims in surprise. "While the rest of the world is busy with climate changes, in Dummsbach people are still enthusiastically putting dung round the church walls. But Dummsbach is no longer what it used to be. Now it's a proper community with a mayor, a secretary and a treasury – everything as it should be." Jež makes more surprising discoveries. "The average voter is at a loss when it comes to 'high-level politics', but when it comes to a dispute over the ownership of a field with the neighbouring village, he starts 'politicising' (as we say today). What we need to find out now is why there are so many unhappy marriages." (18/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Eslovenia
Todos los textos disponible de » Boris Jez

From 2006, basic military service will be abolished in Slovakia and a professional army established in its place. Martin Ehl points to the high prestige the army enjoys in Slovakian society. "In Slovakia, the army plays a much more important role than in the Czech Republic where its prestige grew very slowly. Since Slovakia gained its independence, the army and the Church have been vying with each other for first place in credibility surveys." (22/12/2005)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Eslovaquia
Todos los textos disponible de » Martin Ehl