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![]() Atle HetlandThe Nation |
We live in a time when many things are uncertain and change happens unexpectedly and in ways we don’t want. In the past, things improved and became...
In the last ten years or more, the security debates in most countries seem to have been about the expansion of the military and police, mentioning,...
The Western Julian calendar year 2023 is still young, and so is indeed the Chinese Lunar year, which is celebrated this week. A year can change the...
To be given a funeral paid for by the state is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed upon a citizen, alas, it can only be appreciated by...
In his annual Christmas speech and prayer to the ‘city and the world’, or in Latin, Urbi et Orbi, Pope Francis said that the world is suffering...
I have borrowed the title of my article today from what is said to be the first and most famous Christmas poem, ‘It was the Night before...
This year’s winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Annie Ernaux (82), was in Stockholm last week to receive the Nobel gold medal, diploma and...
Democracies are not stagnant. They keep changing as they have done for the last hundred years when they have been in existence in the West and have...
I have recently written a couple of articles about ‘meritocracy’, that educated people rule, in most countries and indeed in Europe. They give...
It is a fact that educated people everywhere, indeed in the West, limit democratic participation of those with less education, those who just have...
We live in a time when education and the right work experience are decisive for political participation and decision-making, and certainly for getting...
The Climate Change Summit, COP27, is well underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, lasting from 6-18 November 2022. I was quite pleased that on Monday and...
In all countries and cultures, religion plays an important role, even in the more secular European countries, where religion today plays a lesser...
When Boris Johnson was forced to leave his post as Prime Minister a couple of months ago, it was a result of the checks and balances in the British...
In our time, pragmatism is ruling politics more than ideology and values. Well, save for the populists and right-wingers who are quite ideological,...
In today’s article I shall focus on the important work of human rights organisations, generally, and in countries with limited democracy and...
In a few recent articles, I have written about the general elections in two European countries, Sweden and Italy. The Sweden Democrats...
Most of the time, politics and elections in Europe are quite orderly and safe as compared to many other parts of the world, where elections sometimes...
Sweden just had its general election on 11 September, and the two blocs, the social democratic left and the more conservative right became almost...
Queen Elizabeth II passed away at 96, two years after her husband for 77 years, Prince Philip, who died at 99. When the Queen ascended to the throne...
Liz Truss (47) was elected the new Prime Minister in the UK this week, succeeding Boris Johnson, whom she called a friend in her acceptance speech at...
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022) passed away this week at the age of 91. He was the last president of the Soviet Union, resigning in 1991. He is...
As the world changes, politics and thinking must change, at home and abroad, in practical ways and in the way we think. We are today at the crossroads...
It is easy to criticise other people; we all do it and to some, it has become a pass time, not really with any purpose. We like to criticise people in...
In today’s article, I shall emphasise the importance of imagination and creativity in education. I shall use two persons as models, Albert Einstein...
In a few articles during the school holidays, I have discussed education issues. I have suggested that we should make basic education for all by...