I will have to agree with the UK press. Looks like an unnecessary move for political correctness.
Is that Ms, Miss? EU pamphlet causes ‘outrage’ in UK press
The European Parliament has outlawed the titles Miss and Mrs. But being a Ms isn’t that simple.
The new European Commission
The selection of a new European Commission, never the simplest of political tasks, will this year be more complex than ever. Politically and institutionally, 2009 contains a whole range of permutations regarding the ‘how?’, ‘when?’ and ‘who?’ of the next EU executive.
French myths
Nicolas Sarkozy challenges France’s version of history
MAIN FOCUS: Mass protests in France | 20/03/2009
Millions of people have once again striked and staged mass demonstrations to protest French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s crisis policy. The European press writes that the protests in France reflect widespread discontent across Europe.
MAIN FOCUS: Less work in Europe | 19/03/2009
The economic crisis has hit the global labour market. Many European countries are experiencing mass layoffs and personnel cutbacks affecting even the most highly qualified employees. The European press fears an impending social crisis.
Exclusive: The danger of Jean Monnet
For as long as there have been eurosceptics, there have been arguments that the EEC/EU is part of a grand plan to create a United States of Europe. Why? Well, largely thanks to the dreams of some of the organisation’s founding fathers (from a generation, it should be noted, which had mostly lived through two world wars – but still…)
Internet radicals ready themselves for European Parliament
MAIN FOCUS: A return to terrorism? | 09/03/2009
Two British soldiers were shot dead in an attack on an army base in Northern Ireland on Saturday. Members of splinter groups of the disbanded Irish Republican Army (IRA) are suspected of having carried out the killings. The European press discusses a possible return to terrorism in Northern Ireland.
Economic crisis and the ‘eastern partnership’
by Tomas Valasek
In two months, at a summit in Prague on May 7th, the European Union will launch a new policy for Eastern Europe – an ‘eastern partnership’. It will increase EU assistance to the region, open the EU’s markets to the neighbours’ goods and gradually remove visa requirements, among other things. The idea is to give the neighbouring countries stronger incentives to adopt European norms and rules, to integrate their economies with the EU’s, and thus to make the region more prosperous and stable. The concept is sound – but the initiative as well as the EU’s overall policy for Eastern Europe will suffer unless the EU takes more visible steps to assist its neighbours through the economic crisis.
What would democracy in the EU look like?
Irish entrepreneur Declan Ganley launched his new eurosceptic political party Libertas in the UK today. He intends to have candidates in each of the 27 member states, apparently, but on what platform remains to be seen.
Forbes: The Integration Of Muslims In Europe – from Oxford Analytica
For the complete report from Forbes.com click on this link
The Integration Of Muslims In Europe – from Oxford Analytica
"As Muslims are the fastest-growing group in Europe (by 2025, Muslims will make up 10% of Europe’s population, from 4% today), it is important that they are socially, politically and economically integrated. If not, the result will be the human and economic waste of unemployment, bitterness and possibly further radicalization and violence.
A Busy Week for Eurosceptics
He may have promised to do it years ago, but it was only yesterday that UK opposition leader David Cameron officially started the process of taking the Tories out of the European Parliament’s centre-right grouping, the European People’s Party. And with that, the Tories’ slow walk from Europe has begun.
MAIN FOCUS: France to rejoin Nato command | 12/03/2009
France wants to become a full member of Nato after an absence of more than forty years. Fearing a loss of national sovereignty, President Charles de Gaulle withdrew France from the Nato command structure in 1966. France’s return to the integrated military command is to be finalised at the Nato summit in Strasbourg and Baden-Baden this April.
Two arguments against having a referendum on the Lisbon treaty
I was asked to give a speech at a conference today, arguing the case against having a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. I’d rather have been asked to speak about why the Lisbon treaty is a good thing – focusing on the content rather than the process – but anyway I’m a good sport.
Liam Fox: Europe’s Military Injustice
LONDON – The cost of sending troops and military hardware around the world to provide security when and where it is needed is causing major financial headaches across Europe. Indeed, Europe’s finance ministries face a dilemma over how mu
ch of their stretched national budgets to allocate to the military; and European defense officials must somehow ensure that precious funding is spent in the most efficient manner.
Topolánek: Stopping enlargement is a ‘road to hell’
Czech Prime Minister and current EU presidency holder Mirek Topolánek today (13 March) warned that stopping enlargement and introducing new barriers in Europe is a "road to hell". He was writing in English during an online chat session, in response to a question from EurActiv.
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RE:Ms.vs. Mrs and Miss.
I think that Aristotle who said, “Man is a rational animal.”, and who must have laughed a lot when some people changed ‘man’ for ‘human being’ (as ‘human’ for ‘homo’ is also male gender), must be deciding, in his tomb, that man has reached such a level of stupidity, he couldn’t anymore ascribe to what he had said, long ago, about our rationality.
RE:Ms.vs. Mrs and Miss.
I think that Aristotle who said, “Man is a rational animal.”, and who must have laughed a lot when some people changed ‘man’ for ‘human being’ (as ‘human’ for ‘homo’ is also male gender), must be deciding, in his tomb, that man has reached such a level of stupidity, he couldn’t anymore ascribe to what he had said, long ago, about our rationality.
If you think this is another ‘unnecessary’ political correctness item which would come to mean that, as an anthropologist, you do not yet appreciate the importance of symbolism which plays just as prevalent role in human psyche as rituals do.
i guess i know the importance of symbolism mithat. maybe because of that I am afraid of the backlash of these “unnecessary moves”. Like every scholar pumping feminist literature just for the sake of it and getting more and more reaction from students…
It is not an unnecessary move for women who are being discriminated by the insurance companies, etc. because of their marital status. Besides, it should be OK if the students are showing reaction, which means they are paying attention. As Mark Twain said: ?Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.?