Men more romantic than women

Read more here.

Do you agree that men are more romantic? More likely to say 'I love you' first?

5 million, 50% youth, UNEMPLOYED

Work not only provides financial security and the opportunity to plan ahead, it also ensures inclusion and builds identity. What do you think these figures mean for the future of society? For your future?

Today it was announced that there were 4.978.300 unemployed in Spain in September. This amounts to 21,5% of the population and is the highest unemployment has been since 1996.

As young people, you may be particularly interested to know that the percentage of Spanish youth unemployed, after rising above 40%, is now approaching 50%, and that RTVE reports that almost 20% of university graduates between 25 and 29 years old are unable to find work.

You may also be interested to know the differences between the sexes: while 146,800 jobs were lost in the last three months, 114,000 of these individuals were women and 32,800 were men.

Equally worrying is the fact that:

• the number of households in which all working-age adults are unemployed has risen to 1,425,200. 
• of the 4,978,300 unemployed, 2,117,300 are long-term unemployed (1+ years).

BUT before you panic, bear in mind that there are 9,058,300 households in which all working-age adults have a job and also that there are 23,134,600 people of working age in Spain.

Mum, Dad, can I have the car tonight?

This question will soon be a thing of the past as Catalunya moves to ban young drivers from driving alone. In the future you may well have to ask Mummy or Daddy if they will 'accompany you' as you drive to pick up your boyfriend or girlfriend for a night at the pictures or a party.

Is this a positive move which will save lives or a direct attack on teen freedom? Will it drive down the demand for car use from love-crazed couples? Is this one more example of excessive molly-coddling in an over-protective society?

Barcelona, 24 oct (EFE).- El RACC ha propuesto hoy que los jóvenes que se saquen el carné de conducir tengan que ir siempre acompañados por un adulto durante los primeros meses, para tratar de reducir la siniestralidad, ya que los jóvenes tienen un 30% de posibilidades más de morir en accidente que el resto de conductores.

En rueda de prensa, el gerente de programas de la Fundació RACC, Xavier Ruestes, ha advertido que, pese a la evolución positiva de la última década, en la que la mortalidad de jóvenes de entre 15 y 29 años en accidente de tráfico ha pasado de 20 a 6 al mes, la probabilidad de que un joven muera en accidente de tráfico en Cataluña es un 30% más alta que la media de la población.

En este sentido, Ruestes ha advertido que un joven que se acaba de sacar el carné de conducir tiene cinco veces más posibilidades de sufrir un accidente en su primer año al volante que un conductor experimentado.

Fuss and nonsense?

What happened on the pitch? Was there ever any real intention to do harm or hurt feelings?

Do you believe?

The following video has generated hundreds of comments. Here are four of them. What's yours?

Religion = brainwashing. You're not born with faith and religion, it's pounded into your head when you're still a child.

Faith is the result of neural circuitry in the temporal part of the frontal lobe. Without that circuitry, you would have no faith. The circuitry is an evolutionary mechanism that we, homo-sapien, evolved to help us deal with psychological trauma. If you get cut, you bleed, a scab forms to protect you from airborne opportunistic bacteria. The circuitry in your brain does the same thing for your mind.

Religion, my friend, is something you feel - like happiness, love, etc - and you are born with. you can deny or refuse it, maybe because you were raised that way or maybe you are too attached to this life that you refuse to believe in another, but you'll always feel it inside of you. thats probably why you're replying to me, trying to prove to yourself that religion is a lie. stop lying to yourself.

What can I say, humans are weak and primitive. They'll believe in anything as long as their little dreamland remains intact. For most humans reality is a scary thing. So they come up with imaginary friends. Pathetic, incredibly pathetic.

Flatmates from hell... or heaven?

You may get on like a house on fire at school, but could you manage to live together? Later this year you'll find out what your friends are like at close quarters. Perhaps you already know from ski week!

Let us know who you would or wouldn't (or do or don't) enjoy sharing with and why:

• Here is a video of one girl putting down her the people she shares a flat with. Do you feel the same about your family?
• Let us know who you would or who you wouldn't share with and why. Which habits or personality traits would you enjoy and which would drive you round the bend?

Remember - you don't necessarily need to mention names and, above all, keep your comments in good taste; this blog is an extension of class.

Blackberry - Crackberry

Did you cold turkey through the days of service blackout? Many did. Users all over the world flocked to forums and sought sympathy from fellow sufferers. Did you, do you, trust your Blackberry? Did you, do you, trust the Web? Perhaps it is time to pause for thought...

Here are two videos on the theme: the first, a comedy sketch; the second, an attempt at comedy.

Prohibition of Bull-fighting

The recent ban of bull-fighting in Catalonia has caused a greater contrast between the opinions of the Spanish population according to this prohibition.

• Which is your opinion in reference to this prohibition of bull-fighting?
• Do you defend bull-fighting?
• Or do you think it is an animal torture?

Give your opinion by commenting below.

Thank you.

Have you got an accent?

This video took YouTube by storm. Amy Walker talks you through 21 different 'Englishes' spoken from London to New Zealand.

• Which accent do you prefer? 
• Are any 'terrible', 'annoying' or 'sexy'? 
• Do accents matter? 
• Are you embarrassed by your Spanish accent or proud of it? 
• Is there an accent that you'd like to be able to speak with? 

To find out more about the 'real' woman behind the video, visit her website http://www.AmyWalkerOnline.com  or watch her explanatory video.

To learn some differences between American and English slang, watch Hugh Laurie from House (and  before that, Jeeves and Wooster) and Ellen Degeneres (well-liked American Chat Show Host).