The ‘Faces the Mediterranean’ exhibition is a regular event
taking  place in April and May each year. It’s part of the Anna Lindh National Networks of Croatia, Montenegro, Greece, Lebanon, Bulgaria and Cyprus, which aims at engaging with young people and with individuals from migrant backgrounds. Watch the video…

The question of whether the Eurozone states
should shell out to help Greece has opened up critical new fault lines in Europe. Germany is taking a tough position by resisting giving help and even advocating that future bad debtors be kicked out of the single currency. How much of this is down to pure economics and how much is to do with cross-cultural differences?

Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar.
It is the commemoration of Jesus’s death and his rising from the dead, also known as the resurrection. It comes at the end of Lent. The week leading up to it is called Holy Week. Christianity tells us that Jesus was crucified on the cross and died on Good Friday. He was rose from the dead on Sunday, known as Easter Day. But, as the West has become more secular, for some, Easter has become a time to celebrate with chocolate Easter Eggs and little religious ceremony. Bunnies (baby rabbits) are a symbol of Easter. Eggs and bunnies are symbols left over from pagan celbrations of Spring.

International Women’s Day is a global day to celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.  The first IWD was launched by a woman named Clara Zetkin (German) in 1911. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday. However, the plight of women and the hardship they still face in many countries is highlighted by many organisations – see below.

Global issues facing women include:

Official  International Women’s Day site – see how you can help bring about change in the world.

Photograph by web/graphic designer Melanie Cook, used with permission. Thank you!

For us in the West, Valentine’s Day is the day that celebrates love.
St. Valentine has become the patron saint of lovers and on this day we traditionally exchange messages of love, send poems and simple gifts such as chocolates and flowers to our beloved. Traditionally, these are sent anonomously – ‘From Your Valentine’ – which is thought to have come from the farewell note sent from St. Valentine to his gaoler’s daughter just before he was put to death. In the United States, Miss Esther Howland is given credit for sending the first valentine cards. Commercial valentines were introduced in the 1800′s and now the date is very commercialised. The colour Red, Roses and Hearts are the symbols tradtionally associated with this day. Read below for the full history of St. Valentine’s Day.

I was recently sent an email with some amusing photos
comparing overcrowded trains in India and Pakistan (as pictured on the right) with slick, modern trains in other parts of the world. I began to wonder just how stereotypical were these pictures and whether any of them depicted a true-to-life view of train travel around the world. My investigation led to some interesting blogs and some stunning pictures.

Holocaust Memorial Day is commemorated internationally on
27th January each year. On this day in 1945  the Soviet Army liberated the largest Nazi concentration camp – Auschwitz-Birkenau – and the world began to truly understand what took place. When I was a teenager, I remember interviewing my local doctor – Dr. Norman - for a school project about the holocasut. Dr Norman was with the first contingent of the British military that entered the camp and he then had to travel to other concentration camps to make a report for the British Government. An experience that haunted him for the rest of his life.   HMD Trust.