United Kingdom
Whistleblowers to cut waste
23 August 2010
Presseurop
The Independent 
The Independent, 22 August 2010
The British government is using up to 30,000 civil servants as whistleblowers to root out waste, The Independent reports. With the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition pushing through a package of savage cuts to reduce the country’s 156 billion pound deficit, it is examining thousands of suggestions by public servants as to where savings can be made. But the Financial Times warns that Chancellor George Osborne's “fair cuts” may be far from that, hitting the poor far harder than the rich, and widening the wealth gap.
As Greece pimps its ancient monuments to bring in the tourists, lovers of cultural heritage are up in arms. But the country is only doing openly what the whole of Europe is: looting historic sites to drum up more ready cash. 
Asserting national values is central to the political project of the Hungarian PM. Since the start of the year, fifteen paintings, specially commissioned for an exhibition in the Castle of Buda, have been putting this ambition on show. 
The game has gone on for nearly two years: Athens pretends to comply with the demands of its creditors and partners, and they pretend to believe in Greece’s commitments. As the spectre of default comes nearer, however, the Greek bluff cannot go on much longer, writes an El Mundo editorialist.