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The spending for Margret Thatcher's funeral was a tremendous insult to the hard economic crisis that is affecting many countries, the UK included. In an era where people struggle to keep their jobs and to pay their bills, the government decided to spend about £10 million on the funeral of one person (who, despite being worshiped by some, affected negatively the lives of many).

The spending was justified by some- for example the Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans: "It is the right way to commemorate her life" and Prime Minister David Cameron: "What is happening today is absolutely fitting and right. She was the first woman prime minister, she served for longer in the job than anyone for 150 years, she achieved some extraordinary things in her life". However, many people were outraged. The Bishop of Grantham called the costs "a mistake" as "a funeral should be more low-key and personal".

Protesters gathered near St. Paul's (pictured above) to voice their dissidence against the cost of the commemoration, they waved placards reading "Rest of us in Poverty" and "Rest in Shame" and wore t-shirts with messages such as "Society does exist".

The universal declaration of human rights was written in 1948; yet after more than sixty years there are countries where basic rights are denied. Freedom of speech is one of the most important evaluation criteria of a democracy: the more freedom of speech is allowed, the more a democracy is valid.

Saudi Arabia's regime, which profusely distances itself from the idea of democracy, is very keen on censoring: in 2005 it blocked Blogger, Google’s popular weblog tool; in 2010 it banned the use of Blackberry and temporarily blocked Facebook. Social networks are the latest target; the Saudi Arabian authorities have recently warned of blocking Twitter (defined a forum for unjust, incorrect communication) Skype, and applications such as WhatsApp and Viber.

As pointed out in a survey by the Opennet website, the attempt of censoring disturbing contents such as pornography seems to be an excuse to censor whatever the Saudi Arabia regime does not fancy:

I do believe in a world without borders and I strongly support the free circulation of people among countries. The planet where we live does not belong to us: it is just our temporary home not buyable with money. Therefore we should not apply any restrictive rule as we do not concretely possess any land.

Immigration and emigration are two aspects which have always characterized human beings; there will always be eras of regression that lead groups of people to move and settle down in different areas. Despite some governments' efforts to eliminate this aspect, there is nothing we can do as immigration is a natural process of survival.

Of course there have to be rules and procedures that regulate immigration, and governments should take action against those who represent a threat to the society and the economy of a country. However, an en-masse prohibition is not the right answer and, unfortunately, it is exactly what is being suggested amongst the UK government, where plans to discourage overseas students to come to the UK have been being whispered for months.

Malala Yousafzai attended her first day at school in Birmingham, yesterday. She described this day as: "the most important of my life", and I believe it should represent an achievement for all of us and a reminder of the struggles of people in other countries.

The braveness of a Pakistani adolescent, who was shot in the head by Taliban for asking education to be granted to girls in Pakistan, has to remind us that what we have is still denied in other places.
However, the irony is that while in some parts of the world people risk their lives to gain access to education, somewhere else the importance of a hard-won historical right is denied.

I often happen to hear youths lamenting because they have to study: it is too boring and useless.
I see so many teenagers, forgotten by their parents, wandering around the city smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol and ‘acting cool'. None of them has a dream, a purpose, a motivation and the more I witness this, the more I think about Malala and how differently education is conceived today in modern societies.

The case of the British student Rebecca Meredith is the latest example of how women are still victims of sexism in Western societies. Rebecca faced rape threats during a debate at Glasgow University, earlier this month, and the episode shed light on the topics of feminism and sexism.

British Sexism

Women in the UK have many freedoms and their basic human rights are recognised. However, it's far from the truth to state that women are no longer victims of sexism. From wolf-whistles in the tube to denigrations of any type, especially at the workplace, sexism in the UK is still common and the path for equality is still long and hard.

Many countries are still plunged into chauvinism and the UK is not an exception: do you remember the decision of the Church of England according to which women cannot become bishops? This happened only a few months ago.

I agree with Rebecca's outrage when one of her peers pointed out that Western women do not really need a National Women’s Day.