health
If you're happy and you know it
Answering the question ‘how do you measure happiness in Europe’ is a tricky one; there’s been no end to surveys, polls and graphs. For example, little will ever be rotten in the state of Denmark according to the infamous results of one survey in the mid-noughties. Reaching beyond the feasibility of statistics, cafebabel.com’s citizen journalists have opted to share the happiness they have at hand, which is synonymous with pan-European experiences of travel, having company and celebrating the non-traditional. In this week’s special edition, happiness is not just a topic restricted to the girls. Read the profiles of a Mediterranean boy and girl who charted very different courses to ‘happiness’ through travel. Or learn how to laugh, even at something as melancholy as a break-up (Image: (cc) Pink Sherbet Photography/ Flickr)
- Read the special edition If you're happy and you know it
- Spain: leaving crisis behind to find 'happiness' in and of Latin America
- The rise of divorce parties in Europe
- How an Italian boy became a ‘happiness coach’
- cafebabel.com boys speak: what makes Europe’s twentysomething men happy
- Tips for taking a ‘laughter yoga class’ in Paris
Europa Melancholia
Depression, fears, insecurity – they are increasingly creeping into all areas of life, yet stay some of the biggest taboos of our generation. They can be our entertainment and part of our entourage – we’ll often pay to watch these themes being depicted on the big screen or discuss how it might have affected someone in our circle of friends or colleagues. But we can also suffer from a real burnout syndrome at work or after leaving our erasmus experiences abroad behind. So when does sadness or melancholy transform into real depression? Nearly 40% of Europeans suffer from psychological disorders, says one of the newest pan-European studies on the issue, which we have taken as inspiration for this week’s special edition. Are our hectic ‘lives on the edge’ or too individualistic lifestyles the reason? Failing to take the psyche seriously in Europe is also the question we’ll ask next week during our collaborative broadcast ‘Europa plus’, which we run weekly together with the German TV channel ZDF - if you have something to say, visit our theme page www.cafebabel.co.uk/europaplus
- Read the special edition Europa Melancholia
- Brussels: Spanish expat on depression taboo
- One third of Europeans suffer from mental illness: really?
- Cinema psyche: the enemy is within us
- Depression: ‘alcohol abuse is far more common in eastern and northern Europe’
- ‘Nos plusieurs’: autistic theatre stars meet Indian epic in French documentary
- Post-Erasmus syndrome: SOS distress
Hungary introduces tax on crisps
Prime minister Viktor Orban’s government has set itself the task of driving unhealthy eating habits out of Hungary. They are now trying to do this with the help of the so-called crisps tax which came into effect on 1 September
health, childhood obesity, food, hungary, yum nyam, public health, viktor orbán
Cannabis legalisation: shopping for reality in Vienna
The Austrian capital has one 'head shop' for 100, 000 residents. It's perfect for cannabis amateurs, especially as the business is now commercial and legal, though smoking it in public is still not legal
health, vienna, green europe on the ground, youth, economy, drugs, tourism
Space cucumbers in battle against E. coli
While European scientists still haven’t managed to identify the exact source of the E. coli epidemic that has struck Germany, a Japanese astronaut has decided to rise to the challenge. Taking off on the morning of 8 June, Satoshi Furukawa, a crew member of the latest mission to the International Space Station (ISS), intends to grow space cucumbers
health, epidemic, germany, food, europe, alimentation, food security
Europe's suicide tourism
Al Pacino put a damper on the atmosphere at the 50th Monte-Carlo television festival. In 'You don't know Jack' he interprets a doctor who is convicted several times for his practice of euthanasia. Soon to be released in France, Barry Levinson's film threatens to revive a debate which divides Europe, beginning wih the Netherlands, where the supporters of the 'Out of Free Will' initiative are campaigning for a 'right to die' for everyone over 70
health, netherlands, euthanasia, accident, eugenics, public health, science
Chomutov, Czech Republic: fighting prostitution with posters
Women wave in short dresses on posters at the main roads, created by Simona Kmonickova, who lives near the red-light district. Cross bones represent sexually transmitted diseases. The border to Sachsen isn’t far; most sex clients come from there, but despite the warning publicity, the problem has localised
health, germany, civil society, europe, security, public health, czech republic
Patient patients in Europe: kid gloves come off
4% of Europeans received medical treatment in another member state in 2006-2007, according to Eurobarometer, and 1% of public healthcare budgets (10 billion euros) a year is spent on cross-border healthcare. There are no EU laws on European patients rights in general though. From dying in Slovenia to migrating doctors via France and Romania, to the HIV virus which has pinned an era in health, a look at some of the medical topics affecting young Europeans today, featuring three finalists of the second EU health prize for journalists
- Read the special edition Patient patients in Europe: kid gloves come off
- Aids: the HIV carrier criminals in Europe
- Sweden and Norway are anti-junk food leaders
- Medicine’s new dot-com revolution
- Where did all the Romanian doctors and French med students go?
- Preparing to die in Slovenia’s first hospice institution
World Aids day 2010: the 'plastic' pope has spoken
Condoms aren't bad for your health! Clear the ship for action, because we've still a long way to go. More than 41 million people have the HIV virus or Aids, which counts around 800, 000 people in Europe. To mark world aids day on 1 December in the UK, crooner Elton John has become editor for the day for The Independent. But whilst he's been known for his brash concerts in the Ukraine in the past, that country is seeing its own clinics being closed down. Prudence, because younger generations are less interested in plastic than news of when a virus kills en masse. Is the fashionable lack of protection the problem? One thing is sure; despite all the treatments, being HIV positive in 2010 is still no sinecure. Read the cafebabel.com archives before you feel the love tonight (Pictured, life through a condom lens, Image 'Mary Soaking' by (cc) Lomo-Cam/ Flickr)
'Shooting galleries' in Europe: political jab or social cure-all?
Supervising the use of hard drugs or not is an issue that's cropping up across Europe, with some countries tackling it with a different intensity than others; the UK has three injecting clinics. While eight progressive governments have already established the centres, others wish to silence such crazy calls for change. All in the name of morality. Obviously...
health, switzerland, italy, netherlands, norway, berlin, civil society
Dym and dozhd: useful vocabulary for a smog summer in Moscow
Two words have been used more than any others in Moscow this summer. The smoke that has been periodically engulfing Moscow from over 500 wildfires burning across Central Russia for the past few weeks, and the long-awaited rain. Today, the city resembles a scene from a zombie film; it'll be like this until mid-August, forecasters say
health, moscow, russian federation, cities, smoke, summer, natural disaster
Warsaw wannabe
Dare we call it the new Berlin? The Polish capital's showing off with its edgy art and theatre expos, amidst fancy glass towers which spring up like mushrooms in the otherwise socialist scope of the city. Euro 2012, which Poland co-hosts with the Ukraine, assures a further polishing-up of the international reputation of the eastern metropolis. Meanwhile there's only one neighbourhood to be on the other side of the city on the Vistula; the Amy-Winehouse-statued 'Praga' is an artist and party people hotspot. Five pan-European cafebabel.com journalists analyse 'WaWa' - as the locals affectionately call their city -in the antepenultimate city special edition of our monthly series
(Non-)smoker's summer guide to Europe's bans
While you’re carefully planning your summer holidays, it might be worth considering what destinations will best suit your needs - be thee a lover of those tobacco-filled thin paper cylinders or not
health, italy, smoking ban, germany, greece, berlin, civil society
Recap: 'Brigitte', Germany's approach to 'normal' models
No-one wants to see big girls, according to fashion tsar Karl Lagerfeld, a vehement defender of the Size Zero Model. While all of Europe discusses the dress sizes of the fashion world, the German women’s magazine Brigitte has turned the whole question on its head with their new ‘Initiative Ohne Models’ (Initiative: No Models), where its the readers who get to try on the haute couture
health, anorexia, clothes, lifestyle, germany, fashion week, clothing
'Eco hippies' on carbon-neutral weekend in the Vosges, France
Four months on from the Copenhagen summit, the failure of a global climate change policy hasn't crushed or reinvigorated the motivation of environmental activists. In the Vosges region of France, Elise's carbon-neutral weekends indicate that changing our way of life may be key to saving the planet
health, activism, economical crisis, lifestyle, civil society, development, biofuel
Truth? There's no-one to vote for in 6 May UK elections
For the first time in decades, the very real possibility of a hung parliament allows the political landscape to be shaken up in the UK's general election on 6 May. But the opposition leader David Cameron, who launches his election campaign on 13 April, appears windswept, PM Gordon Brown imperious and Nick Clegg just wants to be recognised
health, liberls, university, gay rights, education system, david cameron, gordon brown
Who gives a cabbage?
Cabbage is the prince of warming winter dishes. It's the main ingredient of choucroute, Milanese cassœula (stew), German sauerkraut and Polish bigos, chomped down with pork, sausages and/ or potatoes. Plus a cassœula recipe for six
Babelblogs on bureaucracy: a Lithuanian looks for medical help in Tel Aviv
Health insurance is not institutionally universal here in Israel. My advice? Don't go to live in Israel unless you're perfectly healthy and have no inclination towards extreme sports, and so on. And don't wear high-heels, just in case
health, expatriation, lithuania, languages, communication , support, opinion
Catchy songs
Creepy-crawly expressions for the irritating musical attacks of the ear-worm in Europe. Expression of the week
health, tower of babel, ohrwurm, animals, languages, music, henning studte
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