There are a great many achievements that India would be applauded for promoting, and none more inspiring than successfully lifting millions of its citizens out of poverty thanks to becoming one of the best performing economies in the world. In terms of military power India has tripled its defence expenditure over the last decade to become one of the top ten military spenders.

However, there are a range of challenges that hold India back according to historian and author Ramachandra Guha. Mr Guha outlines these challenges in a special report published by the London School of Economics India: The Next Superpower?

The report highlights the widespread right-wing fractions in Indian society. These fractions have taken rise from Chinese influenced Maoists and right-wing Hindus. This right-wing insurgency has such power in India that it has infiltrated not just regional, but also central political institutions.

Where in the India of 1948 the country was led by intelligent men and women with integrity and respect for the democratic principles on which this rich nation was built, the inauguration of Mrs Indira Gandhi in the 1970s soon brought India’s honourable institutions to their knees.

Mrs Gandhi carved out comfortable governmental posts for relatives with questionable intelligence and selfish ambitions and was instrumental in uprooting the admirable notions of the Congress Organisation. Mr Guha describes the resulting Congress leaders as “selfish, nepotistic and sycophantic”.

The current governing party of India, the Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, has long since been reported to have links to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, RSS, a Hindu nationalist organisation associated with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and which was outlawed by the British three times in less than half a century. Mr Guha describes the BJP, RSS, Maoists and a further right-wing Hindu group, the Naxalites as “Hindu chauvinists”. The Naxalites are currently working to mould India into a more regimented version of Maoist China, whilst the BJP and RSS promise Hindus that they will rule the world if they would just rediscover their religion.

This “insidious presence” of the Hindu right wing and nepotistic rule has not therefore crept in through marginalised regions of India but sprung from its very centre and has been inspirational for small town organisations who have converted their local parties into “family firms”. Examples of these are the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, the Akali Dal in Punjab and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Predesh, each one controlled by a single family, neatly passing leadership from father to son with no more than an aggravated sigh from their constituents.

Right wing power and a degraded central government are just two of several challenges India faces ahead. Amongst these are the increasing gaps between the rich and poor, manipulation of national and international media as well as the unsustainable environmental costs that come from rapid economic growth. It would do well to scrutinise these shortcomings and embrace its multicultural and flourishing religions and cultural societies instead of playing Icarus in search of world superstardom.

The campaign style of Tory Johnson and Labour’s candidate Ken Livingstone appeared to focus more on their opponent’s character, rather than policy. Johnson failed to illustrate whether he had increased or cut police numbers; and Livingstone’s promise of reducing fares by 7% was contested. In a poll most Londoners liked Ken’s ‘Fare Deal’ policy, yet only 45% believed that he would actually reduce the fares if he was re-elected.

Tit for tat? from L-R: Conservative anti-Livingstone poster

Many voters turned their back on the Labour candidate deciding that he was too untrustworthy. Labour’s campaign chief Tom Watson MP heightened this theory when he stated that Londoners should hold their nose and vote for Ken.  Indeed, his offensive remarks towards the Jewish and homosexual communities caused outrage.  Although in the past Johnson has made various offensive remarks, he remained rather tight lipped in the run up to the election, and directed most of his insults towards Livingstone. In fact, he appeared to win support when he called Ken a ‘f***ing liar’, following on from a debate over their tax arrangements.

On jovial websites there were calls to re-elect Boris simply due to his distinct hairstyle.  With the London elections displaying an American-style smear campaign, the only conceivable option for voters appeared to be to side with the lesser of two evils. In fact W.C. Fields sums this up perfectly “hell, I never vote for anybody, I always vote against”.

Livingstone’s campaign poster mocking the Tories

The downfall of presenting a campaign in this fashion is that real issues that affect Londoners on a day to day basis get overlooked. The ever increasing fare issue does need to be addressed – in the past four years they have increased by 33% in comparison to the inflation rate of 13.9% over the same period. The rise in unemployment, coupled with the distinct lack of affordable housing within the capital also needed to be addressed. It can be argued that the failure to do so by the major parties resulted in many simply not bothering to vote.

Apathy seemed to be a running theme throughout the elections. A dismal 38% of those registered voted in comparison to 45% in 2008. Furthermore, voters objected David Cameron’s offer of directly elected mayors across the UK, with nine major cities rejecting the idea at referendum.

Rise of the underdog

One of the most surprising aspects of the London elections was Green Party candidate Jenny Jones beating the Liberal Democrats to secure third place with 98,913 votes. However, it can be argued that she only came third by participating in the Ken Vs Boris battle. Certainly, she made her biggest impact when she forced the pair to release their tax returns.

Furthermore, independent candidate Siobhan Benita caused a stir by coming fifth, just 7860 votes behind Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick. This is despite them having no political broadcast, belonging to no major party and having very limited funding. Benita has become the most successful independent candidate ever, and called into question how politically neutral the mayor should be.

Indeed, the very fact that Boris was elected alongside a Labour majority London Assembly highlights that Londoners are calling out for a diverse GLA (Greater London Authority). Thankfully UKIP’s Lawrence Webb and the British National Party candidate Carlos Cortiglia failed to secure any real support. Even with the progress made by the ‘underdogs’ realistically Londoners have no real option but to vote for either of the two major parties. This is rather disappointing given how diverse the capital is.

The elections left many questions unanswered, and rather than focus on the electorate, the campaigns simply appeared to massage the egos of Boris Johnson and Ken Livingstone. This in itself proved to be a catastrophic tactic to win over and engage people.

Many die hard Labour supporters struggled to vote Livingstone, and were said to be unimpressed with his negative campaign. The general consensus seems to suggest that had Ken focused primarily on his policies then the public would have voted in his favour. Indeed, Labour won 823 councillors’ seats while the Conservatives lost 405 and that pattern could have been replicated in London. It appears that Ken recognised this after losing. Unable to shake off his Red Ken image he bowed out in defeat claiming “the one [election] I most regret losing is this”.

Boris also needs to acknowledge and address the issues that Ken presented as he failed to win by a majority. This is vital, especially considering that only 1/7 of Londoners voted for him. With the Olympics soon approaching all eyes will be on London. Hopefully, Boris Johnson will deliver when the world’s media descends on the capital, but time will tell. Nonetheless, if the next four years go well for Boris you may well be looking at the future leader of the Conservative party and even the PM.

I hadn’t come across the concept of a banned language until I stumbled upon the fate of Breton in North West France. Breton is a Celtic language, which has links to Welsh and Gaelic. Where the British have always been quite liberal in the circulation of relatively minor languages, the French took a stricter approach with regional languages, such as Breton from Brittany (“Little Britain”).

The French authorities banned Breton from schools between 1880 until as recently as the mid 20^th century. The extent of this ban was such that children found speaking the language were punished with, according to some reports, manual labour, extra homework, corporal punishment and sometimes even organised mockery led by the headmaster!

In an effort to unite France after the French Revolution the French First Republic were not content with banning just Breton, but this obsession for unity and uniform spread across all the nonstandard languages of France, patois, such as Catalan, Occitan and Basque.  This drive came to fruition thanks to Abbé Grégoire, a Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary leader, in his Report on the necessity and means to annihilate the patois and to universalise the use of the French language.

Coming from a language company that aims to keep languages alive and active I found this concept very difficult to digest. After assisting clients with the translation of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Sanskrit translation, it was almost unthinkable that other lingual fanatics were forcefully banning languages from circulation, but such is the reality of Breton.

In recent decades many French people have taken it upon themselves to revive these languages and have made good progress. However, as one of our French colleagues commented, the result is very artificial. There no longer exists the concept of a native speaker in these languages and teaching young children is only effective when they have friends and family with whom they can practice.

French lingual fanaticism is evident to this day thanks to the work of the Académie Française, the custodians of the French language. In the past French speakers have been asked to replace the word ‘Walkman’ with ‘baladeur’, ‘software’ with ‘logiciel’ and ‘email’ with ‘courriel’ in an effort to keep out Franglais and uphold correct and proper French.

Whilst the work of the Académie is widely respected throughout France and indeed amongst linguists, it maintains the despotic edge of the French First Republic. It is simply impractical to believe that with technological advancements and cultural integration every language will remain stagnant. Keeping up with and indeed promoting language change is essential in our ever-evolving societies and although it is important for languages to be promoted they must be done in a way that does not cause the oppression of minority languages.

In an effort to unite its people the French have often made the mistake of oppressing less major parts of its country; whether this be banning languages or religious practices. In spite of the international outcry many of these actions have prompted, little effect seems to have been had on nationalist efforts. I fear that further pursuit of similar policies will cause further fractions in French society instead of desperately desired national unity.

It is hard to believe that it is now 2 years since the last UK general election.  It can be rather easy to maintain an insular interest in the politics of our own country, without paying much attention to what is going on abroad. However given the extent to which the UK is affected by the crisis in the Eurozone, we would do well to keep abreast of political developments across the channel.

There were a number of surprises that came of the French election. One was that the right-wing French Front National won 17.9% of the vote in the first round, largely thanks to the popularity of its leader Marine le Pen. The result was up from 11% in 2007 but echoed the 2002 elections where Marine’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen, then head of the party, won 16.8% of the vote.

Marine le Pen, aged 43, has charm and comes across as very normal (she talks openly about life as a working mother). This has helped her to attract a broad range of voters. However the National Front’s core values remain the same, fundamentally a preference for French citizens (they believe that non-French citizens should not be able to claim unemployment benefit in France, for example).

National identity, Christian values and the denunciation of immigrants remain fundamental principles among party activists, even if not necessarily among their voters. And whereas the BNP (British National Party) is widely derided in the UK, receiving 1.9% of the vote in the 2010 elections, the Front National’s significant vote share in the French 2012 is indicative of a wider dissatisfaction amongst French voters with the solutions offered by centrist parties. This is something which was echoed in the recent Greek elections, where parties of the far left gained large vote shares.

Given that voter turnout was around 80%, no-one can accuse the French of not being passionate about politics (unlike the UK, where cynicism with regards to politics seems to be almost endemic). With the election of Hollande, the French public has shown their unwillingness to endure unmitigated austerity measures when there is no clear benefit for doing so on the horizon.

Hollande’s election will have a significant impact not only on the success, or lack thereof, of the austerity movement in Europe but also on the political power of different nations in the Eurozone. Sarkozy and Merkel previously formed a strong partnership, and the break-up of this partnership consequently weakens Merkel and the German position in Eurozone politics in general. As for the UK, Cameron’s public endorsement of Nicholas Sarkozy prior to the elections may well prove damaging.

François Hollande has already made a number of critical comments with regards the UK, saying: “the British have been particularly timid about the question of financial regulation and only concerned by the interests of the city”. He has also accused Britain of having a “self-service” attitude to Europe.

Finally, France’s election of a man who describes himself as ‘Mr Normal’, who used to go to work by scooter and who does not own a car, is also indicative of their rejection of President Sarkozy’s more glamorous lifestyle (he was often nicknamed ‘President Bling Bling’). With Hollande, France hopes to keep its feet on the ground and focus on growth and tackling unemployment. Not only are the French public’s choices relevant to UK politics, they will resonate over here. Let’s hope Cameron can thaw the ice that has formed on the Entente Cordiale.

Chairman Mao casting his all important vote

Most of us will have pictures in our heads of some stuffy officials in authoritarian states making a public show of casting their votes, thus hoping to somehow bolster the democratic credentials of their regime. If only they could be made to understand how undignified they look.

The key to preserving at least a modicum of respectability in that sort of situation is to at least avoid (democratic) beginners’ mistakes, such as for example having over 100% voter turnout, as happened for example in local results in recent elections in Russia (2011) and Iran (2009). Oh, and having more than one candidate to vote for would also help.

Chinese village elections: democracy very much still in progress

Even in democracy-deficient countries, there are, however, also rare examples of pretty genuine democratic elections. One such phenomenon that has gone largely unreported in the Western media are the village elections in the People’s Republic of China.

Ever since taking power in 1978, Deng Xiaoping experimented with grassroots democracy. A 1987 law (Organic Law for Village Committees) created the framework for direct, free, non-party governed democratic elections in all Chinese villages, which covers about 75% of the Chinese population of 1.3 billion.

Unsurprisingly, issues abound.

For starters, implementation has – perhaps understandably – been patchy and slow, but to be fair, progress has undoubtedly been made along the way, and most of the targeted rural population of 900 million (or so) now have the ability to vote for their village committee and, often, their village chief.

Secondly, the central government’s recent decision to abolish all villager taxes and fees, while a very well-intentioned effort to assist with rural development, has effectively stripped villages of almost all means of raising revenues. This has vastly diminished the importance of these elections.

Thirdly, in villages with successful village enterprises, electoral corruption has also flourished, with many cases of vote buying and voter intimidation.

The village of Wukan: a glimpse of the future?

As pointed out above, the recent abolishment of most rural taxes has left local government with few income generating options. The main one – representing 70% of income, according to authoritative sources – is the sale of commonly held land to property developers. Typically the price paid by developers is about 40 times the compensation given to villagers.

An orderly village election in China

In Wukan, a Guangdong village of 12000 people, the anger about a particularly egregious example of improper land seizure by corrupt local officials boiled over into open protests last year, eventually culminating in the villagers throwing all communist officials out, and finding themselves promptly besieged by security forces. In a further escalation, members of an unofficial villagers’ committee were abducted by state security agents, and one of them ended up dead hours later. In classic communist style, his cause of death was found to be “heart stopped beating”.

The higher authorities eventually broke the ensuing deadlock by offering completely free democratic elections, which took place in early 2012, and were even found by impartial foreign observers to be remarkably untainted.

So is this a major step towards democratic reform in China?

Possibly. However much one would like to answer this question more positively, some scepticism is certainly in order. It is at least as plausible to argue that the central government simply wanted a quick end to this confrontation, which attracted more and more media attention. Allowing completely unfettered local elections seems like a relatively small price to pay. After all, how powerful are these village committee members really?

This idea of running regular elections to appease the population, while ensuring that essentially the same people stay in power is quite a neat concept. It’s most often called Western democracy.

Since the early 1930’s, US politicians have tried to come up with catchy tunes to help American people remember their campaigns. Today, politicians are increasingly using popular and nostalgic music to sell themselves. Music has been used in marketing for many years now, whether it’s marketing about products or indeed political candidates.

A desperate attempt to make themselves appear interesting and credible, today’s politicians have increasingly turned to popular culture, and of course to popular music as well. Using music may help politicians to create great campaigns, but using a song won’t necessarily help a politician to win an election.

Music or campaign songs have been used by politicians in many different political context and cultures in order to deliver a specific and vital message to a target audience. Music is useful and beneficial also; it helps the audience to easily recognize messages from the candidates in the form of catchy musical tunes.

But, what really is the exact value of music in a political campaign?

Music possesses a convincing power to inspire, motivate and persuade people, as well as energize a campaign. Music influences many cultural and political movements, it has been used in campaigns by previous and famous American leaders like George Washington and Franklin Roosevelt. However, using music in political campaigns may not always be effective, without considering any guidelines that are vitally significant for the political candidates during their campaigns. For one, it is important that political candidates that use music for their political campaign should honour the copyright law of the music. It should be noted that unauthorized music use can create negative publicity for candidates that are not versed enough to the legal obligations relating to music use.

This seems to have been quite a problem for Republican candidates in particular. Only last year, Tom Petty told Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachman to stop using his song ‘’American Girl’’ in her campaign, but had previously allowed Hillary Clinton to use the same song in her unsuccessful campaign in 2008. In 2000, Petty had also objected to future president George W. Bush’s use of his song ‘’I Won’t Back Down’’, and Bush was forced to, well, do just that.

But, what is the truth behind the idea that believes music makes political candidates popular, or why music is chosen to be the most effective method of political communication?

A political candidate that uses the right music or campaign song that contains a direct and specific political message for people, as well as a catchy tune tends to make people associate with that candidate, and (hopefully) like them better. It is true that people tend to listen and like campaign songs that have a positive message and a constant beat that is easy for the people to clap and sing along to, creating unity among the people; and as a result, a political candidate is more likely to be accepted by their target audience.

One very interesting example of that is Ronald Reagan’s choice of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘’Born in the USA’’ in his 1984 campaign. On the surface it fulfilled the criteria set out above, and served as a potent rallying cry at Reagan campaign events. It probably testifies to the ignorance of the great war-mongering president’s fan base that they took the chorus at face value, and did not seem to realise that the song is actually a powerful anti-war song, describing the pernicious effects of the Vietnam War on the American people.

Music or campaign songs are a powerful tool in advertising the political image of candidate leaders. In addition, it is definitely true that using music to create identification can be instrumental in the formation of political publicity.

Many people believe that a message that is sung can speak to an audience more effectively, than a speech, which can be vague, boring and less likely to arouse strong emotions.

Attracting voters to a political campaign is definitely a difficult task. Choosing the right music for the candidates is important in order to broaden the market and get the attention of people of all ages.

The proviso is that somebody knowledgeable should be consulted first to make sure the music is indeed appropriate. One of the most spectacularly bad choices was Van Halen’s admittedly rousing ‘’Right Now’’, which has been used by George W. Bush, John McCain and Sarah Palin (amongst others, probably).  This seemed like a good idea, but only to people unfamiliar with the fact that the song is from an album called ‘’For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge’’, which refers to sodomy (amongst other things) and, the title of which forms a charming acronym as well.

Politics takes place in all types of communities and it is the main forum or place where beliefs and different opinions are being raised. Music or campaign songs are helpful tools that can create unity among other people and help candidates become popular, if and only if they are carefully chosen and effective to the taste of their target audience.

1. Love your job

Translation involves a lot of research work, meaning that no matter which subject you choose to specialise in, you will need to read a lot about it! For instance, any medical translator should be expected to be familiar with the latest medical advances and to read several articles a week from the Lancet, the British Journal of Medicine, etc. As they become more familiar not only with the content but with the style itself, this will help make the translation read more naturally in the target language.

2. It’s not the size that matters

Many translators specialise in legal, financial, technical or medical translations. However, as agencies we often find that it is more helpful to work with translators whose field of expertise is even more specific than the ones listed above.

For instance, if we have an article to translate about total mastectomy, and one of our translators specialises in breast cancer, it is likely that this person will do a better job than another translator who merely specialises in medical texts.

In relation to point 1 above, the breast cancer translator will be more familiar than the other one with texts related specifically to this area, which will guarantee a smooth translation and quality assurance process.

3. You’re talking to me??

Even though the content of the message is likely to be the same, the tone and style used, including the choice of terminology and grammar, will vary tremendously depending on whether you are translating for a teen magazine or a well-established international newspaper. Always try to get as much information as possible from your client before undertaking any translation work.

4. Think team work

Even the best of translators are likely to forget a comma somewhere in a text, or to make a typo. It is often hard to distance yourself from a text that you have written, and that is when you should get a second opinion of your work.

After all, a translation is a written piece of work, on the same level as an article written for a newspaper or a novel to be published, and both article and novel would be read by an editor before publication, so why should your translation not be?

5. See the big picture

It is very easy to focus on a specific translation problem the first time you encounter it, such as an unknown word or expression, or a sentence the meaning of which you are not sure you fully grasp. Rather than immersing yourself in that problem, and trying to read as much as possible on that specific part of the text to try and understand it better, take a step back, relax, and read the remainder of the text. This will give you some distance from the problem you are experiencing, and more often than not you will find the explanation you are looking for later on in the document.

6. Don’t bite off more than you can chew

Keep your deadlines realistic. You don’t want to take on too much work, to the risk of delivering poor quality translations. Making silly mistakes because of over exhaustion is very common when working on a freelance basis, so make sure that you allocate yourself some time everyday to do things that you enjoy, go out, and spend time with your friends and family.

7. Do not overlook babytalk

Not everyone knows that the luxury department store Fauchon is the French equivalent of Fortnum and Mason. When translating a text that contains such idiomatic references, do not forget to include either a translator’s note or a comment, to help the reader find a reference that they will understand.

And remember the key rule, coined by the poet Ezra Pound: “Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear.”

Planting trees has long been a proposition to make the world a better and healthier place to live in. Nowadays, due to the desperate need for action against the ongoing destruction of our natural resources, it is more and more common to hear that everybody can help restore the health and safety of the earth in a very simple way; by planting trees. It is an easy and simple task to plant a tree, and actually every single one really makes a difference.

Celebrating Earth Day gives hope to some people in restoring and boosting the energy and natural resources of our Mother Earth; one way of doing this is through planting trees. This year, Rockler Woodworking and Hardware partnered with the Hardwood Forestry Fund to successfully celebrate and give real significance to this cause.

They set a goal to plant 20,000 hardwood trees as part of an event to celebrate Earth Day. Rockler pledged to donate one tree for every purchase made from 1^st April  to 22^nd April, 2012. Rockler went on to say that this year’s effort actually surpassed its own goal, and achieved double than last year.

Scott Ekman, Rockler’s vice president for marketing, said that ‘’the event has been hugely successful and has received overwhelming customer support. Surpassing our goal tells us that our customers really understand the importance of supporting an organisation like the Hardwood Forestry Fund, and we in turn, extend our support.’’

The scheme is simple: eventually, the Hardwood Forestry Fund will use Rockler’s monetary donation to plant trees on public lands in the U.S. The Harwood Forestry Fund aims to plant commercially highly valuable hardwoods, such as black cherry, black walnut, red oak, hard maple, hickory, ash, and others. In addition, all trees planted by the Hardwood Forestry Fund are included in a management plan that consists of a planned harvest time, and a regeneration schedule.

Rockler believe that their partnership with the Hardwood Forestry Fund helps to ensure that future generations will enjoy the beauty and the many uses of trees throughout the natural life of the hardwood forests.

But, why do we have to wait until the 22^nd of  April of each year to hear about companies that take action to restore the natural resources of our Mother Earth?

Earth Day is the largest and most widely celebrated environmental event in the world. It broadens environmental programmes and builds public commitment in making the world safer and healthier for all of us. In addition, there are many ways to get involved in building a safer place to live in; we don’t need to wait for a special day to help out. We should take our responsibilities every day!

This year, Rockler Woodworking and Hardware certainly took their responsibilities in representing how to pay back our Mother Earth. It is important to build commitment to protect our environment on a year-round basis in order to secure the safety of our nature, but first, it should start with every one of us. Participate and make a difference!

1. “Master Your Metabolism” – Written by Jillian Michaels

Jillian Michaels is an incredibly popular fitness trainer, often known for her role on the show The Biggest Loser.  The book offers her unique views on fitness and the many changes you can make in your life to keep your health on track.  Jillian focuses largely on not only the effects of food on our bodies, but also the effects of our surroundings and the various toxins that our bodies are subjected to on a daily basis.

She makes claims and suggestions about various plastics and other everyday items that you may not have considered as being harmful before.  Jillian often writes about the various products we use on our skin and the non-food items that we use almost regularly. Jillian believes these factors may play a large role in unbalanced human hormones and the ever-changing growth cycle humans are dealing with.

2. “Biggest Loser Calorie Counter” – Written by the Biggest Loser specialists

Like “Master Your Metabolism”, the “Biggest Loser Calorie Counter” has been written by those involved in the Biggest Loser television show, a show that brings together unlikely contestants and helps them to lose large amounts of weight, in a competition environment.

The book teaches those that interested about how to effectively and safely count calories and maintain their weight and fitness level by monitoring their intake.  The book also explains various nutritional data, yet another major aspect of counting calories.

3. “Skinny Bitch within the Kitch” – Written by Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman

While the title of this book (and a small amount of what’s inside) may appear offensive to some, this book is packed full of valuable tips, advice and recipes that make it almost a necessity for any kitchen.  One major downside of “Skinny Bitch within the Kitch”, however, is the lack of nutritional data with their recipes.

The book focuses on taking an enjoyable approach to being healthy by explaining how to cook new things in ways that may not have been explored before.  While the authors do often promote vegan lifestyles, this book is catered to those without eating restrictions.

4. “Eat This, Not That” – Written by Matt Goulding and David Zinczenko

This book has been released in a number of formats, but all of them make a great addition to anyone’s kitchen bookshelf.  This book focuses on dieting tips that can be achieved by anyone, simply offering helpful suggestions of what you could eat instead of what was originally desired.

It allows those trying this method to keep enjoying the food they desire or crave, while steering them towards more healthy choices. These healthy choices often become the norm, and the interchanging of food typically becomes second nature.

Spain has become the main focus of Europe’s worries over recent days, since the size of the Spanish economy would mean that a bailout would be a significant threat to the survival of the single currency.

Having joined the European Union in 1986 and benefitted from European investment in the years that followed, Spain was regarded as one of the most dynamic economies of the European Union until 2008. However, the country’s economy relied heavily on tourism, a booming housing market and the construction industry, and as a consequence the credit crunch and global economic crisis of 2008-2009 hit Spain harder than many other European economies.

Anyone who visited Spain in the years prior to 2008 will probably carry memories of the huge amount of construction going on in and around its cities. At that time, almost every city seemed full of road and building works on a permanent basis. As a tourist, it was simply an annoyance. But now many of those construction projects have been left unfinished, as Spain’s economy continues to falter.

The bursting of the housing bubble tipped Spain into a severe recession and by the end of 2011 Spain’s unemployment rate was the highest in Europe at nearly 23% – and is still rising month by month. People living in Andalusia and other southern regions, traditionally the poorer parts of the country, report that living there is in some ways reminiscent of living in a developing country.

Austerity measures have prompted widespread protests in Spain, breaking out on the day of the General Strike at the end of last month. But despite violent clashes with police, the protests have not been as severe or violent as the protests against austerity measures in Greece, where poorer citizens have been pushed to the point of desperation.

In Volos, a coastal town mid-way between Athens and Thessaloniki, residents resorted to introducing a bartering system in order to buy the things they need on a day-to-day basis. Residents can gain credits by selling produce, products or services, and the credits are then recorded on a central database. People can then use their credits like money to pay for things they need.

The system currently has over 800 members and is continuing to grow, and while Euros are still being used in the town, the bartering system is making a real difference to the lives of the many residents, as they are able to pay for things that they would not be able to afford with Euros. The success of the scheme has also spawned imitation schemes in other parts of Greece, a country where the basic salary currently only provides 250 Euros a month to live on.