Show & Tell: Halloween Groundhog Day

I'm off to Oslo tomorrow (part pleasure, part business trip) and had a full day today so this will be a brief Show & Tell post. I felt I wanted to write it now and not leave it for Tuesday since it's a Halloween theme after all and Halloween only comes once a year and that day is today.

If I had to wear the same Halloween costume every day, I would...

It's quite tricky this theme I've given myself and the rest of the Show & Tellers! It is possible to dress up as anything for Halloween so there's quite a range of alternatives. But I don't want to pick something boring, like "the costume of myself" or "grandmother" or "teacher", i.e. costumes that don't really require a costume. On the other hand I don't want go for the other extreme and pick "ghost" or "witch" either.

So I will have to choose doctor. And then I don't mean just the title, but the profession and that I would have to wear a white coat along with stethoscope and other equipment doctors have to carry around. I choose to be a doctor because at least people wouldn't be looking at me in the street (and in the winter I could wear a coat and "be undercover"). It would be a bit weird at work though since my colleagues know I'm not really a doctor.

I would also find myself in potentially tricky situations. For example, yesterday I was picking up some thai take-out food on my way home. When I entered the place there was an older woman on the floor and another woman (who turned out to be her daughter) sitting by her and calming her. Apparently she wasn't feeling well and had fainted and they were waiting for an ambulance. In that sort of situation it would be difficult to be dressed like a doctor but not really be able to help and have to hide in a corner. (I should mention that I left before the ambulance got there but the woman seemed to be fine and they had had confirmation that the ambulance was on its way.)

Okay, I'd better finish packing and get some sleep! Have a nice weekend folks!

European, Swede, World Citizen

Feelings of 'Europeanness' are apparently on the rise, according to a new study published in the journal Science. Despite gloomy analyses over the EU's failure to connect to its citizens, Europe's younger generations are increasingly feeling "European" next to their national identities.

A team of Austrian sociologists found that older generations of citizens who only feel attachment to their nation – not to "Europe" - are dying out. The sociologists based their findings on European Commission's Eurobarometer studies from 1996 to 2004, which contain the question whether respondents feel, for example, only Swedish; Swedish and European; European and Swedish; or only European.

The group of respondents who express that they have "multiple identities" is on the rise, i.e. European identity is not replacing national identity. In 2004, 58 percent had some sense of feeling European, a number which is set to rise to 68.5 percent by 2030 if the current trend continues. Luxembourgers are the most "European" with 78 % feeling some sort of European identity. The Italians came second at 72 %, followed by the French (68 %) and the Spanish (64 %) while Swedes (45 %), Finns (43 %) and Brits (40 %) are at the other ends of the spectrum.

The study thinks that increasing media reporting at the European level, increasing mobility within the EU - across national borders - both among students and workers, and the fact that we live in the information communication age are factors contributing to Europeanness.

The study covers neither the period following the rejection of the EU constitutions in France and Netherlands nor the enlarged union of 25 member states, so we'll have to wait for new studies to find out what the present mood is. Being the ever European I think we'll have even better figures in the next study!

If you want a taste of European politics, play the "Be a MEP" game!