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Once wasn't enough: Berlin is yet again living through an occupation. The ever-growing social species of the hipster is considered a foreigner, and is stirring up the aversion of native 'Berliners', even rekindling forgotten pleasures in certain extremist circles. Direction Neukölln, the cool district of the German capital which walks the line between defending a trend and resisiting the invader

The latest film from the French director, also starring British actress Kristin Scott-Thomas, premiered in Spain in November. It went on to win the 'golden shell' for 'best film' at the San Sebastián international film festival. The film is released in the UK in March 2013

By Pauline Maroy, translated by Danica Jorden
They’re called lobbies, these private interest, pressure groups… But who are they?  What do they do?  And why are they a problem?  Five public figures concerned with the subject shared their points of view on 6 November at a conference at the Free University of Brussels (ULB).  A common thread emerged during the discussion:  lobbying should be more transparent and subject to more regulations.

The indirect impacts of the economic crisis have reached higher education as well. It is a general tendency to increase tuition fees both in Europe and overseas. University research programmes, which usually do not even contribute to the growth of GDP, are many times stones round the necks of countries with bad economic situation. Therefore, recession has opened debate about the role and importance of higher education. Do universities make an ivory tower of science or a production line serving the labour market? Does the appearance of consumer culture on campuses lead to an increase in quality or rather to the overturn of the teacher-student relationship? What is higher education about at all and who should pay for it?

'Battle of Ideas', a festival organized annually in London, focused this year on the most vital questions concerning higher education. We had the opportunity to listen to a debate titled 'What is higher education about and who should pay for it?' at the festival’s fellow event organized at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University on October 17.

Once there was a boy from Holland and a girl from Portugal, or a girl from Italy and a boy from Spain…no, this isn’t the start of a crude joke. According to French newspaper Le Figaro, the student exchange programme will have been responsible for the birth of more than a million children in its 25 years of existence. Unfortunately not all erasmus love stories have such fairy-tale endings

The crisis gave birth to a flourishing set of neologisms, with one in particular coming out of the French horizon to encapsulate the sense of being unemployed, being inactive and still maintaining a classy way of life. Meet the 'bourgeous unemployed' people of Paris, and their European cousins

"There is no need to be feminist in my generation”, that is what the French former First Lady Carla Bruni lately declared. These words set off many reactions from the feminist movement; she ended up rectifying them and saying: “I personally never felt the need to be a feminist activist”. That little controversy reminds us that feminism is still alive, even though it sometimes takes new shapes.

By Jan Nils Schubert, translated by Danica Jorden

There is no theme for the “Unexposed” exhibition, which opened Friday 9 November in Brussels. Just one directorial idea: to show the creativity and reflections of 40 young female Iranians whose works have not been able to be exhibited in their home country.

The Dutch holiday figures of  'Santa Claus' and his helper Black Pete have long endured charges of racism and cultural insensitivity. Nevertheless, the 5 December celebration is endearing itself to new generations of immigrants and facilitating their integration into Dutch society

We all know the British band from parties or the radio. The music giants have been around since 1976, and brought out their latest album 'Oui, Oui, Si, Si, Ja, Ja, Da, Da' in late October. Though their 2009 album 'The Liberty of Norton Folgate', which invented ska-pop, was not a success, the 'rude boys' are not quitters

The American writer's debut novel, 'The Cyclist', has at long last been published in France some eleven years after its publication in an America still reeling after the 9/11 attacks. It’s a fictional account of terrorism viewed through the lens of cycling, love and homemade food

Poetry is often conceived of as pure language, mere words on a page. Alongside more traditional work, the US-born, UK-based Jennifer Williams breaks down the barriers between poetry, music and scent. A chat about proustian moments and falling between the cracks

The Borderline Project was stopping last week in Seville on its way from France to Portugal. In charge of the coordination and carrying out of this social and cinematographic study on European immigration are NISI MASA – European Network of Young Cinema and FEST – International Youth Film Festival, in close collaboration with Guimarães – European Capital of Culture 2012.

Since the early 1980s, 22 million have died from Aids and 60 million have been affected by the HIV virus. UNAIDS estimates that around 2.3 million people were living with HIV in the European region in late 2010. Throughout the years 1 December, World Aids Day, has become a key date in the international calendar - but do we know more or less?

By Thomas Bignal

Despite the EU summit which took place on 22-23 November focusing on settling the Greek debt and securing a bailout for Cyprus, everybody’s eyes were on the EU budget negotiations for 2014-2020. The EU multi-annual budget pays for policies carried out at European level (such as agriculture, regional development, research, etc), as well as for its administration.

With 67% of the vote, the former prime minister Borut Pahor became president of Slovenia on 2 December. In the run-up to his election, Slovenians protested against the thieves, liars and corrupt political elite of our (no longer) beloved country. I was not there, because I am a part of the so-called apathetic youth which does not care about anything, as my friends would say, though I am sorry for that