Social issues

PISA results

Finland’s PISA-crash is a wake-up call for Swiss education policy

by Carl Bossard,* Switzerland

(18 January 2024) “Can you buy Finnish schools?” an education expert from the Middle East is said to have asked. After the first PISA assessment, he too made a pilgrimage to the promised land of the world’s best schools – with the intention of copying and pasting. Such educational trips were made possible by the PISA rankings.

The “Programme for International Student Assessment” (PISA) compares the ability of 15-year-old students in the subjects of reading, mathematics, and science. The results are recorded on a points scale and categorised into competence levels.

Trolls that control the narrative in media and Internet

How to track down robots, bots and “sea lions” that try to neutralise uncomfortable news

from an episode of Solutions’s Watch by James Corbett

(11 January 2024) Let’s face it: the “comments” at the end of videos or articles are often dreadful. But who’s to say they’re even real? And what’s the solution to these abominable posts? Not to read the comments, of course. But those who wade into this info war battlespace should at least be aware of the various tactics that trolls*, bots*, spies and “sea lions” are using to derail them from taking meaningful action.

About the non-reappraisal of the Covid-19 pandemic

Death by WHO recommendation?

by Professor Konstantin Beck,* Switzerland

(29 December 2023) During the Covid-19 pandemic, Switzerland deviated from WHO recommendations and thus avoided thousands of deaths. If the “Pandemic Treaty” had already been in force, the death toll would probably have been as grim as in the United States.

The “World Health Organisation” (WHO) probably made its biggest mistake at the start of the pandemic. At that time, thousands of doctors around the world were looking for ways to fight Covid-19, a learning process took place. Vitamins D and C, “Ivermectin” and the antimalarial “Hydroxychloroquine” (HCQ) were promising candidates.

Uranium ammunition contaminates the world

Deadly dust “made in USA” contaminated, poisoned, covered up

by Frieder Wagner,* Germany
Speech given on the German peace manifestation in Cologne, 26 November 2023

(29 December 2023) Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, on 6 March this year, the British Secretary of State Annabel Goldie declared that the Challenger 2 tanks announced by the British government would also be delivered to Ukraine including uranium shells. What does that mean?

Children need secure attachments

More and more young people are being hospitalised for mental disorders. However, they often do not suffer from depression, but from an impoverishment of relationships

by Dr Liselotte Staub PHD*, Switzerland

(29 December 2023) 18-year-old Sabine lives with her mother and has started an apprenticeship as a commercial trainee during the coronavirus crisis. Now she sits opposite her family doctor and asks for a sick note. She can no longer sleep and is therefore constantly tired. She often cries, can’t concentrate at work and is no longer happy about anything. She is at the end of her tether and often thinks it would be better if she were no longer alive. The family doctor writes Sabine off sick and refers her to psychotherapy with a suspected case of depression.

“Dona nobis pacem”

What kind of world do we want to live in?

by Michael von der Schulenburg*

(21 December 2023) This article is based on a speech given at the “Never again war – lay down your arms” rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate on 25 November 2023.

Today, we live in a world that is increasingly caught in the stranglehold of armed conflicts and wars. How will we get out of this quagmire and what kind of world do we want to live in?