Off the Rails: HS2 Cycleway Cancellation ‘Highlights Rampant Innumeracy’! #HS2

Both the UK government and HS2 Limited are ruling out funding a national cycleway that would have run parallel to the controversial infrastructure project and delivered a return on investment up to 533% greater than the rail line itself #HS2 #highspeedrail

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 3, 2019

The UK authorities have effectively ignored a 2014 #business case report for the national cycleway, leaving the c.11.7m people living within just three miles (4.82km) of the proposed national route both without a new major cycle route and out of pocket #HS2 #cycling #edu

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 3, 2019

Analysis: the United Kingdom is rapidly descending into a nation addicted to senseless and mathematically insane austerity; this does not bode well for its chances of retaining any kind of world role post-#Brexit #HS2

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 3, 2019

To watch: having declined to provide a major 'no-brainer' cycle path, the UK government is now on track to miss its own 2025 #cycling trips target; gross incompetence of this kind is becoming all too commonplace https://t.co/89VidhSciD #cyclinglife #cyclinglifestyle

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) February 3, 2019

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Korean Wave Latest: International Students Flocking to Soft Power Player!

#Universities in South #Korea are targeting international students as a vital new source of revenue as the post-2013 government restructuring programme has eaten chunks out of their bottom line #hallyu #edu #collegelife

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 8, 2018

Republic of #Korea: the number of international students at local #universities has increased from just 32,557 in 2006 to 123,858 in 2017, a ▲280.4% change in just 11 years #edu #schools #highered #globalization

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 8, 2018

Analysis: South #Korea could reap giant dividends from an expanded pool of international #students, but its #university system must address certain qualitative issues which are holding it back #edchat

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 8, 2018

To watch: South #Korea's extraordinarily low birth rate is now filtering through into tertiary education, with the number of new #undergraduates enrolling in 2018 the lowest since 2010; international students will be in even greater future demand https://t.co/ziZq7ml17Z #highered

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 8, 2018

2014 FIFA World Cup Legacy Latest: #Brazil ‘Sliding into Civil War’!

Scarcely four years after hosting the FIFA World Cup, #Brazil is verging on the precipice of anarchy: a record 63,880 people met their deaths as victims of violent crime in 2017 #JairBolsonaro

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 4, 2018

Incredibly, in #Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state alone, >5,197 people have been killed in the first 10 months of 2018, a figure which is significantly greater than the 3,438 civilian fatalities in the whole of #Afghanistan during 2017

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 4, 2018

Analysis: #Brazil's president-elect #JairBolsonaro has swept to power partly because of his 'No More Mr Nice Guy' stance on violent #crime, but the result of this approach in his home state of Rio de Janeiro has been a ▲45% year-on-year change in deaths at the hands of the state

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 4, 2018

To watch: in recent decades, militarised drug gangs have effectively taken over significant chunks of major Brazilian cities, with the lines between these entities and the police becoming blurrier; total dystopia could yet await #Brazil https://t.co/hr01LYxtMJ

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) November 4, 2018

To Move, To Think, To Work, To Breathe: French Capital Slashes Toxic Emissions!

#Paris City Hall: between 2017 and 2018, car traffic in the centre of France's capital changed by ▼6.0%, which reduced #airpollution by a comparable amount #France #Europe #cities

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

Not satisfied with achieving a record drop in #airpollution, the #Paris city authorities are pressing ahead with a plan to close off six central areas to traffic on the first Sunday of every month, starting on 07/10/2018 #France

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy: #Paris experiences just 9.1 bike accidents per million trips, compared to 22.3 in #London; present and future investments could render this large gap a chasm

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

To watch: quality of life issues such as #pollution, #transport and wealth inequality are already perceived as vital distinguishing points between cities, a trend which shows every sign of intensification #cities https://t.co/kqHl02Nbhw

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 18, 2018

Big Trouble in Little Africa: Guangzhou Entrepreneur Hub ‘Evaporating’!

#Xinhua: the population of 'Little #Africa' in the #Chinese manufacturing metropolis of #Guangzhou has shrunk by 25% in just nine years (2009-2018) – and the decline could yet accelerate #China

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

#Guangzhou is home to the largest #African community in #Asia, and was for many years symbolic of the 'Chinese Dream' pursued by many entrepreneurs from the world's most-exploited continent #Africa

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

Analysis: incredibly exacting bureaucratic impositions have made trading in #China too onerous for many #African nationals for countries such as #Nigeria and #Mali; #Turkey and #Vietnam are increasingly preferred #business destinations

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

To watch: #China's aim of becoming a soft power superpower risk being crippled by administrative intransigence; the PRC should consider working with the African Union to streamline and simplify visa procedures #Africa #softpower https://t.co/gr0yGoGGjx

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) September 1, 2018

Amsterdamned: Dutch Metropolis ‘Europe’s Real No-Go Area’!

According to no less a figure than the city's official ombudsman, late-night #Amsterdam now resembles the Wild West, with a general breakdown of law and order which raises uncomfortable political + philosophical questions

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Arre Zuurmond, Municipal Ombudsman for #Amsterdam: a poisonous combination of criminal money, weak central authority and an alarming lack of police has turned #Amsterdam into an 'urban jungle'

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Analysis (1): #Amsterdam does many things very well, but it needs to rethink what kind of tourists and nightlife it wants to cultivate – as well as provide adequate resources to desperately overstretched public services

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

Analysis (2): the drug and prostitution laws of #Amsterdam and indeed #Holland are more nuanced than they are given credit for, but these nevertheless have had the effect of sending out problematic signals

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

To watch: #Amsterdam's slow degradation into a #city in which the basic tenets of lawful #life are often ignored entirely should at least spark a debate about whether #libertarian positions can end up eroding the very idea of public space if pushed too far https://t.co/pBHNqz109G

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) August 6, 2018

All Aboard the Gravy Train: #HS2 ‘Channels Inner Fat Controller’!

Financial Times: the UK's controversial #HS2 high-speed railway project has eaten up £4.1bn/€4.6bn of public money before the laying of a single brick; this figure is almost half the cost of the entire #HS1 line

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

FT: #HS2 Limited – the company inaugurated to build the deeply divisive #London-Birmingham #rail connection – spent a stunning £0.6bn/€0.67bn on consultants alone in just a single financial year (2017-18)

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

The 'global' figure of £4.1bn/€4.6bn for the 'preliminary' #HS2 phase excludes at least £6.6bn/€7.4bn in construction contracts; amazingly, about 80% of the land and property required for the London-Birmingham line has also yet to be purchased

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

Analysis: while large #infrastructure projects have a tendency to go over budget, #HS2 already risks breaking a series of unwanted records in this context; Britain's embarrassing #HSR deficit is no excuse for what in many other countries would be perceived as grotesque graft

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018

To watch: the #HS2 fiasco illustrates all too graphically that an enormous number of companies lack any developed notion of #corporate #social responsibility; until society as a whole takes #CSR seriously, fiscal 'events' will be the norm https://t.co/PBIOGRstU8 #edu #geography

— ッ MEDIOLANA® EDU (@Mediolana) July 31, 2018