Nein, we don’t speak foreign
“Non. Nein. No – The language crisis in British schools,” leads the Independent. For the first time ever, the London daily reveals, “French has slipped out of the top 10 of the most popular subjects at GCSE” (the General Certificate of Second Education, generally taken at the age of sixteen). Only one in four youngsters now take French, a drop from 341,604 students in 2002 to 177,618. In the same period German slumped nearly 50% from 130,976 to 70,619. “The decline in languages began at the beginning of the decade and accelerated as a result of the Government's decision to make the subject voluntary for 14- to 16-year-olds,” the Independent notes. The only postitive trend is an increased interest in Spanish – which is now taking over from German as the second-most popular language (after French) in schools.
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.