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Ruth,
I´d love to come to your party, but my parents can´t give me a lift home!
Can I stay over? I can get the bus home on Sunday.
Sara

DETROIT

The city of Detroit, in the USA, was once compared to Paris. It had a broad river, smart streets and historically important architecture. Then, in the 20th century, it became ‘Motor City’. For a time, most of the world’s cars were made here.. Some say America’s middle class was born in Detroit – new highways certainly made it easy for workers to move from the city centre to the suburbs in the 1950s. But in the early years of the 21st century, Detroit became America’s poorest big city. In less than five decades the once lively Motor City lost more than half its population. It became known as a city that was failing, full of ruined buildings, extensive poverty and crime. What went wrong in Detroit? The population fell for several reasons. Partly, it was because people moved to the suburbs in the 1950s. Then there were the shocking riots in 1967, which scared more people away from the city. Then there was the dramatic fall in car manufacture as companies like General Motors and Chrysler faced huge difficulties. And finally, in 2008, came the global financial crisis. Many of Detroit’s people are poor – half of the city’s families live on less than 25,000 dollars a year.

A paranormal experience?

Ghosts, haunted houses, the spirit world or the communication with the dead have fascinated humans since the beginning of their existence. Most people, whether believers or sceptics like myself, find paranormal experiences captivating; you could go on and on listening to these kinds of stories. But the debate lies on whether the allegedly paranormal events that witnesses claim to have experienced are real or not. I personally don’t doubt that many of those people really believe that what they have experienced is a paranormal event –real is what you believe to be real after all.

I myself experienced an event that might be considered paranormal by some. A long time ago, my cousin died unexpectedly and her husband, who is a great ghost sceptic, couldn’t find my cousin’s life insurance policy. One night, my cousin appeared in my dreams. “You smell really bad,” I told her. “Of course I smell bad, I’m dead,” she said. “Anyway, I’m here to tell you where the document my husband is looking for is.” And she told me. The following day, I told my cousin’s husband that I might know where the policy was –I didn’t tell him how I knew, because that would have prevented him looking for it. The thing is that we went to his home and the document was exactly where my dead cousin had told me it would be. Paranormal?

Egypt travel guide

Courtesy and hospitality are important when doing business in Egypt. The host of a business meeting will usually offer tea or a small snack before commencing. It’s polite to refuse the first offer, but once the host insists, the guest should then accept.

Alcohol is legal, but should be avoided until visitors know their Egyptian colleague’s attitude towards drinking, and, if acceptable, should be drunk in moderation. It is not considered suitable for women to over-indulge in alcohol. If invited to a business lunch, expect food to be lavish and plentiful.

Throughout the Arab world, it is considered bad manners either to display anger or to openly criticize another person in public. Tact and diplomacy are always required. In social life, punctuality is almost laughable.

For business, visitors should be on time but expect locals to be often late, and do not take offence. Men should not offer to shake a woman’s hand, and vice versa, unless clearly invited to do so. Men and women should dress smartly for business meetings – suits and tie for men; suit for women or smart trousers/skirt/jacket – and always dress modestly. Shoulders and knees should never be shown.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS

Most countries have had, and some still have, educational systems that are, in one way or another, social disasters. The English educational system is unique, however, in the degree to which it has created educational institutions which perpetuate privilege and social division. Some nine million children are educated at state schools; just under half a million are educated at private schools. What is the result of such a system? The facts seem to speak for themselves. In the state system, about eight per cent make it to university; in the private system, almost half the students go on to university. But those statistics are deceptive: middle class children do better at examinations than working class, and most of them stay on at school after 16. Private schools are entirely middle class, and so this positive attitude creates an environment of success. Private schools are enormously expensive, as much as £18,000 a year for a boarder. Why are parents, many of whom are not wealthy or even comfortably off, willing to sacrifice so much? One father replied: "Everything is on the margin. If my son gets a five per cent better chance of going to university, that may be the difference between success and failure." You can believe him if you like, but £50,000 minimum is a lot to pay for a five per cent better chance. The real reason parents fork out the cash is prejudice: they don't want little Henry mixing with the workers, or getting his accent wrong. And anyway, at your next dinner party it won't sound too good if you say your kid is going to the state school down the road even if, as a result, you are able to serve Chateau Margaux with the filet steak. Some, perhaps many, private school pupils find life there unpleasant in the extreme. Such a one was Graham Greene. Yet he still sent his own son to the same school. In another case, an Old Etonian admitted the school was "a ghastly hideous place, it was a nightmare" and yet he too wishes the school upon his son: "I found it was a reflex that, as soon as Alexander was born, within three weeks I went and registered him." Rather, when one thinks about it, as one might register a pedigree dog with the Kennel Club.

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