by Michael Felten,* Germany
(19 July 2023) Primary school pupils’ reading levels are declining. Current benchmark studies show that the proportion of children who do not reach the minimum literacy standards is growing – one in four fourth graders cannot read properly.
by David Bell,* Brownstone Institute, Texas USA
(4 July 2023) The Covid-skeptic world has been claiming the World Health Organization (WHO) plans to become some sort of global autocratic government, removing national sovereignty and replacing it with a totalitarian health state. The near-complete absence of interest by mainstream media would suggest, to the rational observer, that this is yet another ‘conspiracy theory’ from a disaffected fringe.
by Georg Koch, member of the editorial board of "Swiss Standpoint"
Rather than causing ever greater suffering with further arms shipments to Ukraine, the money in Italy should go toward urgent improvements in the domestic health care system.
by Manlio Dinucci,* Italy
(30 May 2023) A major political-media operation is underway at an international level to cancel the Anniversary of the Victory over Nazism. President Putin’s speech at the May 9 Military Parade in Moscow, on the 78th Anniversary of the Victory, was presented in the West as a low-key speech without revealing its real content. In Latvia and other eastern countries, the police identified and even arrested those who paid tribute to those killed in the war against Nazism. In Ukraine, in the commemoration of the Anniversary of the Victory over Nazism, an absolute ban and threat of arrest or worse has been imposed.
by Sabine Vuilleumier-Koch, MD
(30 May 2023) Notwithstanding the social upheavals and the numerous scientific controversies surrounding the federal government’s measures to “combat Covid-19” over the past three years, in December 2022 the Swiss parliament extended the legal basis for certain measures until mid-2024. Thanks to a successful referendum, Swiss voters will now vote on this parliamentary decision on 18 June.
by Béatrice Di Pizzo,* Zurich
(23 May 2023) Swiss primary schools are dominated by competence orientation, self-organised learning and inclusive support. The humanistic educational ideal falls by the wayside.