An area of social policy in which this country has been achieving substantial progress - and still does - is health care. All governments and the Labour government especially have improved and invested in facilities and personnel that have attained levels of care which stand comparison with those of other European countries. That problems still persist is true, as in the lack of paramedics in sufficient numbers. Even here though, by comparison with similar difficulties that exist in the rest of Europe (even though this is no consolation), we're tackling  problems with a higher rate of success than others.

In one area I suspect that we lag, even if much is said about its importance in modern society, and even though in the meantime, much funding is dedicated to it: mental health. Often the issue is raised about a new hospital that should have been built for this sector but has remained pending. Beyond this and perhaps more importantly, one remembers the emphasis that used to be laid in the past on the need for a new organic law to cover mental health. This law was always about to be put on track, but as far as I know, it remains stalled.

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BBC

It's interesting news that the BBC is apparently planning to convert its TV transmissions to online format over the internet. The reasons for this are technological, financial and sociological - all over the world, it seems, the younger generations do not follow TV all that much.

It's a safe guess that what's developing at the BBC in the UK will be happening as well in other countries. Over the span of a human life, indeed less, enormous changes have swept over the means of mass social communication. Above all, they were caused by TV, which first banged radio to the side, then captured every corner of everyday life, then from gray turned to full colour, later changed from terrestial to cable transmission, till now it's going to wifi, where it must compete with other means of mass communication which unlike it, were expressly designed to meet with the expectations of "electronic" users. Not like the BBC and similar TV stations which took off from totally  different launch pads.

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MECHANISM

The so-called European Stability Mechanism has stood as a leading pillar in the defence of the euro since the year 2012. At times of crisis, it is all set to offer any euro government which skirts financial disaster, help via massive loans. But it also insists that whoever receives such loans must adopt the tough measures that the Mechanism considers fit for purpose.

Since the Mechanism was created, no euro economy has collapsed. It's said that the very fact that the Mechanism exists helps by itself to prevent any crisis from boiling over. There's an intriguing twist though: right up to now, Italy has declined to ratify the Mechanism agreement on the grounds that it undermines totally the sovereignty of a country. It does not look like this position will change in coming months. There's much to think about in the Italian stand.