HOW OBSERVANT ARE YOU ?
jueves, 1 de abril de 2010
CURRENT AFFAIRS-1
El 63% de los españoles no sabe inglés
Sólo el 8,3% de los ciudadanos estudia algún idioma extranjero
EL PAÍS
El 50,3% de los ciudadanos considera que aprender un idioma extranjero tiene mucha importancia y el 40,8% que bastante. Sin embargo, el 63,1% ni habla la lengua más universal, el inglés, ni la escribe ni la lee, mientras que el 22,9% dice poder expresarse y escribir en el idioma de Shakespeare. A la pregunta de "¿está usted aprendiendo en la actualidad algún idioma extranjero?", el 91,3% responde que no y sólo un 8,3% dice que sí. De entre estos últimos, el 68,4% estudia inglés. ¿Las razones? Por motivos de trabajo y estudio (45,1%) y por el gusto por aprender idiomas (33,5%). Son datos del último barómetro del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). La encuesta ha sido realizada a 2.500 personas mayores de 18 años.
Sobre el grado de dificultad, el 43,7% cree que el inglés es bastante difícil y el 38,8% piensa que lo es poco. Además, el 10,4% de los consultados considera que se le da mucha importancia al estudio de idiomas extranjeros en el sistema educativo español, frente al 41,3% que cree que se le da bastante importancia y al 37,9% que estima que se le da poca. No obstante, la encuesta del CIS refleja un cambio de percepción al respecto, ya que, a la pregunta sobre el grado de importancia a los idiomas foráneos cuando el encuestado tenía 10 o 12 años, el 40,4% contesta que se le daba poca importancia y el 39,0% que ninguna.
El 37,6% califica de buena la enseñanza de idiomas en el sistema educativo y el 23,5% de regular. Para el 16,1% es mala y sólo un 2,6% la considera muy buena. La mayoría, el 73,6%, opina que el estudio de un idioma extranjero debería comenzar en la enseñanza infantil o en preescolar. El 22,6% cree que en Primaria.
El 65,3% aprendió inglés en el colegio o instituto. Un porcentaje prácticamente igual, el 65,1%, estudió francés allí. A la cuestión de "¿habla o hablaba su padre o su madre algún idioma extranjero?", el 90,8% responde que no en el caso de la madre y un 88,8% también contesta negativamente en el caso del padre.
El 73,9% dice no haberse sentido perjudicado o en una situación de desigualdad por no hablar otra lengua en su vida laboral o en sus estudios. Un 25,5% asegura que sí.
Al 45,9%, "si tuviera la oportunidad", le gustaría aprender inglés. Al 26,5%, no. El 32,2% lo haría porque le gusta saber idiomas, el 26,9% para poder viajar a otros países y el 19% para promocionarse en su trabajo.
Sólo el 8,3% de los ciudadanos estudia algún idioma extranjero
EL PAÍS
El 50,3% de los ciudadanos considera que aprender un idioma extranjero tiene mucha importancia y el 40,8% que bastante. Sin embargo, el 63,1% ni habla la lengua más universal, el inglés, ni la escribe ni la lee, mientras que el 22,9% dice poder expresarse y escribir en el idioma de Shakespeare. A la pregunta de "¿está usted aprendiendo en la actualidad algún idioma extranjero?", el 91,3% responde que no y sólo un 8,3% dice que sí. De entre estos últimos, el 68,4% estudia inglés. ¿Las razones? Por motivos de trabajo y estudio (45,1%) y por el gusto por aprender idiomas (33,5%). Son datos del último barómetro del Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas (CIS). La encuesta ha sido realizada a 2.500 personas mayores de 18 años.
Sobre el grado de dificultad, el 43,7% cree que el inglés es bastante difícil y el 38,8% piensa que lo es poco. Además, el 10,4% de los consultados considera que se le da mucha importancia al estudio de idiomas extranjeros en el sistema educativo español, frente al 41,3% que cree que se le da bastante importancia y al 37,9% que estima que se le da poca. No obstante, la encuesta del CIS refleja un cambio de percepción al respecto, ya que, a la pregunta sobre el grado de importancia a los idiomas foráneos cuando el encuestado tenía 10 o 12 años, el 40,4% contesta que se le daba poca importancia y el 39,0% que ninguna.
El 37,6% califica de buena la enseñanza de idiomas en el sistema educativo y el 23,5% de regular. Para el 16,1% es mala y sólo un 2,6% la considera muy buena. La mayoría, el 73,6%, opina que el estudio de un idioma extranjero debería comenzar en la enseñanza infantil o en preescolar. El 22,6% cree que en Primaria.
El 65,3% aprendió inglés en el colegio o instituto. Un porcentaje prácticamente igual, el 65,1%, estudió francés allí. A la cuestión de "¿habla o hablaba su padre o su madre algún idioma extranjero?", el 90,8% responde que no en el caso de la madre y un 88,8% también contesta negativamente en el caso del padre.
El 73,9% dice no haberse sentido perjudicado o en una situación de desigualdad por no hablar otra lengua en su vida laboral o en sus estudios. Un 25,5% asegura que sí.
Al 45,9%, "si tuviera la oportunidad", le gustaría aprender inglés. Al 26,5%, no. El 32,2% lo haría porque le gusta saber idiomas, el 26,9% para poder viajar a otros países y el 19% para promocionarse en su trabajo.
FAMOUS QUOTATIONS
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies"
(GROUCHO MARX)
(GROUCHO MARX)
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Are you prepared to pay for online news content? Do you think this strategy will be successful?
Times website to charge from June
The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced.
Users will pay £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription.
The move opens a new front in the battle for readership and will be watched closely by the industry.
NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks said it was "a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition".
Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing the existing, combined site, Times Online.
The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers. And payment will give customers access to both sites.
With newspaper sales in decline, companies have been searching for a business model that will make money from their websites.
But with so much news content available for free on the internet, NI's decision to charge is seen by many people as a high risk strategy.
Ms Brooks said the decision to charge came "at a defining moment for journalism... We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.
"This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach. We will continue to develop our digital products and to invest and innovate for our customers."
Times website to charge from June
The Times and Sunday Times newspapers will start charging to access their websites in June, owner News International (NI) has announced.
Users will pay £1 for a day's access and £2 for a week's subscription.
The move opens a new front in the battle for readership and will be watched closely by the industry.
NI chief executive Rebekah Brooks said it was "a crucial step towards making the business of news an economically exciting proposition".
Both titles will launch new websites in early May, separating their digital presence for the first time and replacing the existing, combined site, Times Online.
The two new sites will be available for a free trial period to registered customers. And payment will give customers access to both sites.
With newspaper sales in decline, companies have been searching for a business model that will make money from their websites.
But with so much news content available for free on the internet, NI's decision to charge is seen by many people as a high risk strategy.
Ms Brooks said the decision to charge came "at a defining moment for journalism... We are proud of our journalism and unashamed to say that we believe it has value.
"This is just the start. The Times and The Sunday Times are the first of our four titles in the UK to move to this new approach. We will continue to develop our digital products and to invest and innovate for our customers."
FINANCE & ECONOMICS
The mañana syndrome
The government is not doing enough to tackle Spain’s economic problems
March 2010 The Economist
ON A small plot of land near Candeleda, in Ávila province, Antonio de la Cruz is planting tobacco. It is years since he grew anything. During Spain’s decade-long boom, he worked on construction sites, which paid better. But building has ground to a halt. “I’ve got to do something,” he says. He is lucky: few of Spain’s 4.3m unemployed (almost 20% of the workforce) have bits of land to plough.
A morale-boosting advertising campaign, backed by 18 large banks and companies, tells glum Spaniards that their problems can be fixed “between us all”. The opposition People’s Party disagrees. This has to be fixed by whoever broke it, says its spokesman, Esteban González Pons. He means that the Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, should do the fixing—and that he is failing.
The list of things that need repair is extensive. Spain’s structural faults were long hidden by a housing bubble and have been glaringly exposed now that it has burst. From unemployment and low productivity growth, and from troubled savings banks to creaky public finances, the problems are piling up. With the government unwilling to apply radical surgery, there are fears that Spain will fall further behind its neighbours. “The risk is that we will have a lost decade, like Portugal or Japan,” says Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós, an economist at Freemarket International Consulting in Madrid.
Unemployment tops most people’s worries. Faster growth is needed to bring it down. Yet Spain has been in recession for seven quarters; the government expects GDP to shrink again this year; and the IMF forecasts growth of less than 1% in 2011.
The public finances must also be fixed. Last year’s deficit ballooned to over 11% of GDP. In January Elena Salgado, the finance minister, produced an outline of austerity measures that calmed market fears about Spanish debt. But two months later the plan still lacks detail—and has an obvious flaw. An optimistic Ms Salgado predicted growth of 3% in both 2012 and 2013, bringing added revenues to cut the deficit. Spain’s European commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, has warned against the sin of over-optimism. Growth will not go over 2% until 2014, says Ángel Laborda, an economist at FUNCAS, the savings banks’ foundation. He reckons that more tax rises and spending cuts are inevitable if the government is to hit its 3% deficit target by 2013.
Ms Salgado is already raising value-added tax, with the top rate going from 16% to 18% in July. Mr Zapatero says this will finance the unemployed. “We can pay unemployment benefits to half a million people,” he said in a television interview. Yet higher taxes will also dampen consumer spending, sending growth lower still.
Deeper reforms to Spain’s economy look unlikely. The Bank of Spain’s governor, Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, is calling for reform of a rigid labour market that makes most employees too costly to fire but condemns a third of workers to unstable, unprotected temporary jobs. Yet the government has repeatedly delayed pension and labour reforms. Mr Zapatero’s great goal is to conserve social peace. That means keeping trade unions happy, even if reforms (and growth) have to wait.
Some detect a whiff of cowardice. Mr Zapatero’s determination to avoid general strikes is proof that he will never take a difficult decision, says Artur Mas, head of the Catalan Convergence and Union coalition. And because broad agreements on public-spending cuts lack detail, they also lack urgency. A recent austerity deal with regional governments, responsible for over a third of Spain’s public spending, allows for two more months of haggling.
In the meantime Spain’s financial sector is jibbing at reform plans. Some cajas (savings banks) are heavily exposed to construction and housing loans. Mr Ordóñez says a third of the 45 cajas need to disappear (by being absorbed by others). A €99 billion ($132 billion) rescue fund is producing only limited consolidation so far, with perhaps seven Catalan cajas merging into two. Local politicians, who have a big say in their cajas, do not want to lose power. The Bank of Spain must act urgently, says Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics. The system cannot improve so long as doomed entities are kept alive, says Miguel Martín, president of the Spanish Banking Association.
The delay in sorting out the cajas adds to the sense of drift. Most Spaniards do not see the economy improving any time soon. Faith in the political class is at rock bottom. The Spanish now rate politicians as a bigger problem than their old bugbear, terrorism. Mr Zapatero’s Socialists are trailing in the polls—but an election is not due for two more years.
The government is not doing enough to tackle Spain’s economic problems
March 2010 The Economist
ON A small plot of land near Candeleda, in Ávila province, Antonio de la Cruz is planting tobacco. It is years since he grew anything. During Spain’s decade-long boom, he worked on construction sites, which paid better. But building has ground to a halt. “I’ve got to do something,” he says. He is lucky: few of Spain’s 4.3m unemployed (almost 20% of the workforce) have bits of land to plough.
A morale-boosting advertising campaign, backed by 18 large banks and companies, tells glum Spaniards that their problems can be fixed “between us all”. The opposition People’s Party disagrees. This has to be fixed by whoever broke it, says its spokesman, Esteban González Pons. He means that the Socialist prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, should do the fixing—and that he is failing.
The list of things that need repair is extensive. Spain’s structural faults were long hidden by a housing bubble and have been glaringly exposed now that it has burst. From unemployment and low productivity growth, and from troubled savings banks to creaky public finances, the problems are piling up. With the government unwilling to apply radical surgery, there are fears that Spain will fall further behind its neighbours. “The risk is that we will have a lost decade, like Portugal or Japan,” says Lorenzo Bernaldo de Quirós, an economist at Freemarket International Consulting in Madrid.
Unemployment tops most people’s worries. Faster growth is needed to bring it down. Yet Spain has been in recession for seven quarters; the government expects GDP to shrink again this year; and the IMF forecasts growth of less than 1% in 2011.
The public finances must also be fixed. Last year’s deficit ballooned to over 11% of GDP. In January Elena Salgado, the finance minister, produced an outline of austerity measures that calmed market fears about Spanish debt. But two months later the plan still lacks detail—and has an obvious flaw. An optimistic Ms Salgado predicted growth of 3% in both 2012 and 2013, bringing added revenues to cut the deficit. Spain’s European commissioner, Joaquín Almunia, has warned against the sin of over-optimism. Growth will not go over 2% until 2014, says Ángel Laborda, an economist at FUNCAS, the savings banks’ foundation. He reckons that more tax rises and spending cuts are inevitable if the government is to hit its 3% deficit target by 2013.
Ms Salgado is already raising value-added tax, with the top rate going from 16% to 18% in July. Mr Zapatero says this will finance the unemployed. “We can pay unemployment benefits to half a million people,” he said in a television interview. Yet higher taxes will also dampen consumer spending, sending growth lower still.
Deeper reforms to Spain’s economy look unlikely. The Bank of Spain’s governor, Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, is calling for reform of a rigid labour market that makes most employees too costly to fire but condemns a third of workers to unstable, unprotected temporary jobs. Yet the government has repeatedly delayed pension and labour reforms. Mr Zapatero’s great goal is to conserve social peace. That means keeping trade unions happy, even if reforms (and growth) have to wait.
Some detect a whiff of cowardice. Mr Zapatero’s determination to avoid general strikes is proof that he will never take a difficult decision, says Artur Mas, head of the Catalan Convergence and Union coalition. And because broad agreements on public-spending cuts lack detail, they also lack urgency. A recent austerity deal with regional governments, responsible for over a third of Spain’s public spending, allows for two more months of haggling.
In the meantime Spain’s financial sector is jibbing at reform plans. Some cajas (savings banks) are heavily exposed to construction and housing loans. Mr Ordóñez says a third of the 45 cajas need to disappear (by being absorbed by others). A €99 billion ($132 billion) rescue fund is producing only limited consolidation so far, with perhaps seven Catalan cajas merging into two. Local politicians, who have a big say in their cajas, do not want to lose power. The Bank of Spain must act urgently, says Luis Garicano of the London School of Economics. The system cannot improve so long as doomed entities are kept alive, says Miguel Martín, president of the Spanish Banking Association.
The delay in sorting out the cajas adds to the sense of drift. Most Spaniards do not see the economy improving any time soon. Faith in the political class is at rock bottom. The Spanish now rate politicians as a bigger problem than their old bugbear, terrorism. Mr Zapatero’s Socialists are trailing in the polls—but an election is not due for two more years.
PROFILES
PROFILES - PICASSO
A Spanish painter who is widely acknowledged to be the most important artist of the 20th century. He experimented with a wide range of styles and themes in his long career, most notably inspiring 'Cubism'.
Pablo Ruiz was born in Malaga on 25 October 1881, the son of an art teacher. He later adopted his mother's maiden name of Picasso. He grew up in Barcelona, showing artistic talent at an early age. In the early 1900s, he moved between France and Spain before finally settling in Paris in 1904. There he experimented with a number of styles and produced his own original ones, reflected in his 'Blue' and 'Rose' periods.
In 1907 Picasso painted 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon', a revolutionary work that introduced a major new style - 'Cubism'. Picasso worked closely with the French artist Georges Braque in the development of this style. Picasso's next major innovation, in 1912, was 'Collage', attaching pieces of cloth, newspaper or advertising to his paintings.
Picasso now moved from style to style, experimenting with painting and sculpture and becoming involved with the Surrealist movement. In 1937, he produced 'Guernica', a painting inspired by the destruction of the town in northern Spain by German bombers during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso supported the Republican government fighting General Francisco Franco, and never returned to Spain after Franco's victory.
Unlike many artists, Picasso remained in Paris during the German occupation. From 1946 to his death he lived mainly in the south of France. He continued to produce a huge variety of work including paintings, sculptures, etchings and ceramics.
Picasso was involved with a number of women during his life who were often artistic muses as well as lovers. He had four children. On 8 April 1973, he died of a heart attack at his home near Cannes.
A Spanish painter who is widely acknowledged to be the most important artist of the 20th century. He experimented with a wide range of styles and themes in his long career, most notably inspiring 'Cubism'.
Pablo Ruiz was born in Malaga on 25 October 1881, the son of an art teacher. He later adopted his mother's maiden name of Picasso. He grew up in Barcelona, showing artistic talent at an early age. In the early 1900s, he moved between France and Spain before finally settling in Paris in 1904. There he experimented with a number of styles and produced his own original ones, reflected in his 'Blue' and 'Rose' periods.
In 1907 Picasso painted 'Les Demoiselles d'Avignon', a revolutionary work that introduced a major new style - 'Cubism'. Picasso worked closely with the French artist Georges Braque in the development of this style. Picasso's next major innovation, in 1912, was 'Collage', attaching pieces of cloth, newspaper or advertising to his paintings.
Picasso now moved from style to style, experimenting with painting and sculpture and becoming involved with the Surrealist movement. In 1937, he produced 'Guernica', a painting inspired by the destruction of the town in northern Spain by German bombers during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso supported the Republican government fighting General Francisco Franco, and never returned to Spain after Franco's victory.
Unlike many artists, Picasso remained in Paris during the German occupation. From 1946 to his death he lived mainly in the south of France. He continued to produce a huge variety of work including paintings, sculptures, etchings and ceramics.
Picasso was involved with a number of women during his life who were often artistic muses as well as lovers. He had four children. On 8 April 1973, he died of a heart attack at his home near Cannes.
CURRENT AFFAIRS-2
The Times
Spain to crack down on corrupt politicians after spate of scandals
Spain is to crack down on corrupt MPs and mayors after a spate of scandals that have shaken the already frail public faith in the country’s political establishment.
Obligatory prison sentences will be proposed for public servants convicted of corruption, under reform of the present criminal law. The change, to be unveiled by the ruling Socialist Government today, is to be debated in Parliament but is not expected to face opposition. The move comes after a series of big corruption cases linked to the decade-long building boom.
Mayors were often tempted to issue illegal building licences to unscrupulous developers in return for cash, cars or other favours. In some cases, Britons who bought holiday villas discovered later that their dream homes were built illegally. In the most notorious case Juan Antonio Roca, the former head of urban planning at Marbella, allegedly ran the city council like his personal fiefdom for years, raking in millions in bribes.
When the scandal broke in 2006 the entire Marbella city council had to be dissolved by central Government after Roca and scores of civil servants, developers and lawyers siphoned off €512 million (£466 million) from civic coffers.
Police who raided Roca’s luxury villa in Marbella found a Miró painting hanging in the toilet, hunting trophies on the walls and a stable full of starving thoroughbred horses.
Roca and 99 others, including Countess Sandra von Bismarck, a distant relative of the German Iron Chancellor, are to stand trial this year accused of corruption.
Meanwhile, a political fixer who styled himself on the fictional godfather Vito Corleone was at the centre of the biggest political scandal for years.
For weeks last year Spaniards thrilled to new revelations about Francisco Correa, who allegedly greased palms in the right-wing Popular Party, handing out cars, €20,000 (£18,455) watches and wads of banknotes in return for public contracts.
Investigators claim that 17 politicians received €5.5 million between them. Many could now face jail if convicted.
The succession of high-profile scandals and smaller corruption cases in town halls around Spain has had its impact on how Spaniards perceive their political class.
Recent surveys for the Centre for Sociological Investigations found that corruption was a growing concern for Spaniards.
In November and December corruption became the third most important concern, after unemployment and the economy — and ahead of terrorism.
Spain fell to 32nd place in Transparency International’s 2009 world ranking of open government, down from 28th place in 2008.
Professor Jesus Lizcano, the president of Transparency International in Spain, said: “I would prefer more openness than greater penalties as I think this would reform the system better.
“One problem is in the Latin world there is a greater permissiveness towards wrongdoing here. Seventy per cent of mayors who were convicted of corruption were voted back in to power in Spain.”
Under current Spanish law a public official who accepts a bribe can receive a jail term of between one and nine years and be fined three times the value of the bribe. They may also be banned from public office for up to 12 years.
However, in some cases bribery is not classed as criminal offence but rather an “unjust act”, which can result in prison sentences of one and three years and lesser fines.
Despite earlier reforms, commentators believe local councils are not open enough. Jose Maria Vals, of Tiempo de Hoy magazine, said: “The councils continue not to conform to a 2007 law which made it obligatory to inform the public of their actions.”
Details of the Government’s crackdown have not been made clear.
Spain to crack down on corrupt politicians after spate of scandals
Spain is to crack down on corrupt MPs and mayors after a spate of scandals that have shaken the already frail public faith in the country’s political establishment.
Obligatory prison sentences will be proposed for public servants convicted of corruption, under reform of the present criminal law. The change, to be unveiled by the ruling Socialist Government today, is to be debated in Parliament but is not expected to face opposition. The move comes after a series of big corruption cases linked to the decade-long building boom.
Mayors were often tempted to issue illegal building licences to unscrupulous developers in return for cash, cars or other favours. In some cases, Britons who bought holiday villas discovered later that their dream homes were built illegally. In the most notorious case Juan Antonio Roca, the former head of urban planning at Marbella, allegedly ran the city council like his personal fiefdom for years, raking in millions in bribes.
When the scandal broke in 2006 the entire Marbella city council had to be dissolved by central Government after Roca and scores of civil servants, developers and lawyers siphoned off €512 million (£466 million) from civic coffers.
Police who raided Roca’s luxury villa in Marbella found a Miró painting hanging in the toilet, hunting trophies on the walls and a stable full of starving thoroughbred horses.
Roca and 99 others, including Countess Sandra von Bismarck, a distant relative of the German Iron Chancellor, are to stand trial this year accused of corruption.
Meanwhile, a political fixer who styled himself on the fictional godfather Vito Corleone was at the centre of the biggest political scandal for years.
For weeks last year Spaniards thrilled to new revelations about Francisco Correa, who allegedly greased palms in the right-wing Popular Party, handing out cars, €20,000 (£18,455) watches and wads of banknotes in return for public contracts.
Investigators claim that 17 politicians received €5.5 million between them. Many could now face jail if convicted.
The succession of high-profile scandals and smaller corruption cases in town halls around Spain has had its impact on how Spaniards perceive their political class.
Recent surveys for the Centre for Sociological Investigations found that corruption was a growing concern for Spaniards.
In November and December corruption became the third most important concern, after unemployment and the economy — and ahead of terrorism.
Spain fell to 32nd place in Transparency International’s 2009 world ranking of open government, down from 28th place in 2008.
Professor Jesus Lizcano, the president of Transparency International in Spain, said: “I would prefer more openness than greater penalties as I think this would reform the system better.
“One problem is in the Latin world there is a greater permissiveness towards wrongdoing here. Seventy per cent of mayors who were convicted of corruption were voted back in to power in Spain.”
Under current Spanish law a public official who accepts a bribe can receive a jail term of between one and nine years and be fined three times the value of the bribe. They may also be banned from public office for up to 12 years.
However, in some cases bribery is not classed as criminal offence but rather an “unjust act”, which can result in prison sentences of one and three years and lesser fines.
Despite earlier reforms, commentators believe local councils are not open enough. Jose Maria Vals, of Tiempo de Hoy magazine, said: “The councils continue not to conform to a 2007 law which made it obligatory to inform the public of their actions.”
Details of the Government’s crackdown have not been made clear.
