News

Earlier this week, Bank was voted the most hated tube station in London. Possibly because of the general loathing against bankers- the station is always full of them because of the direct service to London City Airport and Canary Wharf.

But for one Wednesday last week, the busiest station must have been St Paul's. It was there that I met a businessman who was rushing to do business somewhere around Greenwich.

I was waiting for a tube, just coming back from Margaret Thatcher's funeral, when joined by several well dressed gentlemen. One of them, nearing his 50s, approached the traffic warden with a question about the connection to North Greenwich - business interest, obviously.

Later he boarded the train and spent the journey engaged in conversion with a ‘peer'. I only overheard that one word 'peer' while reading paper, business news.

Upon leaving, I left the paper on the seat. The well dressed gentleman took it. I meant to leave it for other travellers to read, I apologized for what might be seen as leaving rubbish.

"That's all right', he said "I'll read it on my next train".

He asked me whereabouts I was from.

"Slovakia", he reacted to my country of origin. "I have a friend from there, Bruno, makes good guns".

Erik Redli is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. Each week he gives his view on the events of the last seven days. This week, he looks at his experience of Margaret Thatcher's funeral, and the Boston Marathon bombings.

"London lives with two main events this week in mid-April."

The Iron Lady's Funeral

"Even the most alien visitor must have realized that something big was happening in London on Wednesday. Who knows if there would have been 8 police officers deployed inside the St Paul's tube alone if not for the Boston marathon tragedy that showed the extraordinary security measures needed. Even the security guys from the nearby building stood out in the streets to look like important.

Outside the station I tried to make a photo of a leaflet lying on the street inviting me to some kind of Thatcher party. But it was blown away by the wind the moment I approached it. Respecting the right for eternal rest, I joined the other mourners and visitors.

We were ushered by the police and organizers to the improvised corridor that took us to the ticket entrance at St Paul's Cathedral. No further, as it was only for the family, invited politicians and personalities. I would like to meet Henry Kissinger or Boris Johnson, but it is not polite to talk inside a church anyway.

With ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's funeral having taken place this morning, student writer Erik gives his view on her life and death and the way he has seen the British respond to her. 

"I can not omit a few lines about the Iron Lady...

The death of Margaret Thatcher has brought out so many different reactions.

Sitting on the tube in the morning, her face was looking at me from the front page of the newspapers. Even the fans of One Direction on Twitter were asking whether she was a friend of the band members after seeing their condolence. At least the young have taken notice.

Many people on both sides of the political spectrum consider her the greatest Prime Minister since Winston Churchill. He was also both loved and loathed. But while Churchill was switching between parties according to his political tastes, Thatcher introduced politics of different taste to one party.

No politician can appeal to all- that is one of the truths of the occupation. During Thatcher's time in office, Britain won the Falkland Islands, but wasted lives in the conflict in Northern Ireland. She supported individualism and enabled people to buy their own houses; but on the other hand, they were cut short of milk. She helped to end the communist era, but critics suggest that the foundations for the crisis were laid down at the same time.

Easter in Slovakia is supposed to be the celebration of spring and birth. Well, the pounding snow last Friday morning surprised everyone.

However, the climate was still that of April and consequently the snow in the lowlands started to melt and caused flooding. Some villages had to be evacuated. During the second part of Easter festival guys go house-to-house and pour cold water on women and girls so that they stay healthy and pretty. I think the flooding is the revenge of Mother Nature for the years of watering.

Erik Redli is a university graduate from Slovakia who is currently living in London. Each week he gives his view on the events of the last seven days. This week, he looks at migration policy, binge drinking and feminism.

Free Online Educational Courses

A new craze is sweeping education, with free online educational courses called MOOCS growing in popularity. 

"Many graduates boast about their university degree certificate. But most employers look at your skills and what the prospective employee can bring to the company. If you earn money, no one will dig into where you learnt your skills. Therefore the main asset of education should be the skills and knowledge, not the piece of paper.

I think these online courses hit on the fact that a degree does not automatically stand for knowledge. For example, I completed two courses recently. Although I did not earn the certificates (the maths too difficult for me), I learned a lot of new things that I have already used in my life and job. This makes for a good excuse for the large percentage of students who do not complete their courses. They took what they needed and left the certificates for the academics.