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		<pubDate>Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 +0200</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Gonzi’s place in history]]></title>
			<link>http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130519/editorial/Gonzi-s-place-in-history.470242</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
								Only the most politically my­opic would have disagreed with Parliament’s fitting tri­bute to Lawrence Gonzi as he stepped down as Nationalist Party leader last Monday.
Dr Gonzi might have suffered a heavy defeat at the polls in March, but he leaves behind one of the few southern European countries to have successfully navigated the financial crisis.
His accomplishments as Speaker and minister are widely lauded, but his legacy at the very top has drawn mixed reactions.
It was bound to be that way – Dr Gonzi was in for a tough ride the minute he was elected Nationalist leader in 2004.
His party was riding on the crest of a wave, fresh from an election victory and a crucial EU referendum, which cemented Eddie Fenech Adami’s status as a political icon. The ultimate political battle was won but with it came the tough business of membership.
Dr Gonzi took control of a government waiting at the doorstep of the EU, and with it the unenviable task of weaving a mountain of EU legislation into national policy.
He also inherited a lot of unfinished work of a predecessor who was busy ensuring a big political mission was accomplished. The transition into the European bloc was to a large extent...				]]></description>
			<pubDate>Sun, 19 May 2013 00:01:00 +0200</pubDate>
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			<title><![CDATA[Single mothers, children and social policy]]></title>
			<link>http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130518/editorial/Single-mothers-children-and-social-policy.470154</link>
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								The fact that one out of four children are now born outside marriage does not seem to shock most people. Some may argue that this is the result of a fall in moral standards while others would attribute this phenomenon to social policies that may have become too generous.
Social scientists are a little more clinical in trying to come up with explanations as to why more young women choose to give birth to a child while being unmarried. Many say that the availability of contraception gave women the ability to control the number and timing of children.
Empirical studies conducted in western countries confirm that, since contraceptives became easily available in the last three decades, the number of single-parent families headed by single mothers increased substantially.
Some sociologists describe this development as “the reproductive technological shock that has eroded the age-old custom of shotgun marriage”.
Other sociologists maintain that “the declining availability of good jobs combined with welfare benefits for single mothers” are behind this change. Yet, social research in countries like the US have shown that when social benefits to single parents were increased in the 1960s...				]]></description>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 00:01:00 +0200</pubDate>
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