Opinion

The PISA survey is yet another example of Europe’s decline

Increasing numbers of Norwegian pupils are leaving compulsory school without mastering reading or basic mathematics. The same decline can be seen across much of Western Europe. The knowledge that made the continent rich, free and admired is crumbling away. The willingness to discuss the causes appears to be absent.

Action plan for Norwegian media if Trump visits Norway

If Trump comes to Norway in connection with King Harald’s funeral, it is urgent that the media have a plan for the worst-case scenario: that he actually boards a plane and arrives. Because if he discovers the merciless and negative coverage of himself and half the American population, there could be “hell to pay.” Read the action plan that could save Norway from a diplomatic crisis without equal.

Rhetorical obfuscation of Norway’s failed Middle East policy

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide (Labour) proudly proclaims Norway’s support for Syria and Lebanon, but fails to mention Hezbollah’s iron grip on Lebanon and Turkey’s de facto occupation of parts of Syria. Israel, by contrast, is singled out as a threat. Does Norway’s Middle East policy benefit the country in any way?

UK asylum caseworker tells The Times: Only one per cent are genuine refugees

An experienced caseworker at the British Home Office says the asylum system is riddled with fraud. He describes how hundreds of Pakistani men name the same gay boyfriend as the basis for their asylum claims.

Lavrov says Leipzig drone accusations are ‘the beginning of a real war’ with Germany

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claims that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is ‘in practice declaring war’ on Russia over the drone attack on Leipzig Airport in early March. Lavrov categorically denies that Russia was behind the attack.

Jerusalem: Archaeologists find landscape beneath Church of the Holy Sepulchre matching biblical description of Jesus’ tomb

Italian archaeologists have uncovered remains of an ancient landscape beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem that correspond with New Testament descriptions of the place where Jesus was crucified and buried.

Hatred creates unity in the West

When foreigners arrive in a multicultural country, they are already integrated, because the national culture is gone. But even dissolved societies need something around which to unite. So instead, people can unite in their hatred of Trump. It is a sharp observation by the Canadian-born, now US-based commentator Emma-Jo Morris.

Exporting criminals: North African asylum seekers extremely overrepresented in crime statistics

Is North Africa exporting criminals instead of imprisoning them? In Switzerland, 80.5 per cent of asylum seekers from North African countries have been charged with one or more offences during the asylum process or before removal.

Voters are redrawing the political map

It has been a recurring theme in these columns that politics is subject to the iron law of oligarchy. Those with power accumulate it and hold all the cards. The fortress seems impregnable. But voters have a way of making their wishes known: They can shock politicians through opinion polls.

Ceuta exposes the mendacious rhetoric on immigration

In the past few days alone, illegal migrants in Ceuta have surrounded a military vehicle and pelted it with stones until four soldiers had to flee on foot. Some of the attackers pursued them. We are assured that concerns about immigration are exaggerated or manipulated from abroad, until reality comes knocking at the door with stones, fire and armed escorts for schoolchildren.