Britannia Radio

Speaking of Languages: The Decline of French

From the desk of Tiberge on Mon, 2008-10-20 09:57

The 12th Summit of the International Organization of Francophonie wrapped up on Sunday in the capital city of Canada’s French-speaking Quebec province. During the three-day event, leaders from 55 member countries (including Belgium, Switzerland and Canada – though in these countries French is only spoken by a minority of the population) and 13 observer nations held talks on wide-ranging issues. The financial crisis stole the limelight. The 70 nations and regional governments also pledged to help cut global greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. They said they would draft a “concerted francophone position” for upcoming climate change conferences in Poznan in December and Copenhagen in 2009. However, while the French-speaking politicians talk about (financial) bubbles and (greenhouse) gases, their language is dying, both globally and within France itself.

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Britain: Spies Like Us

From the desk of A. Millar on Mon, 2008-10-20 07:59

Last week, Britain’s Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith,announced plans for a central database detailing every email sent, website visited, and phone call made within Britain. However, according to Smith, the database would not contain the content of emails, phone calls, etc., but only skeletal data such as the time an email was sent, and the addresses of the sender and recipient. This data is needed, according to Smith, in order to combat terrorism and other serious crime such as child pornography – though the main target would appear to be Islamist terrorists.

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