For the first ever post in this new section, "In The News", I'd like to draw your attention to an article over in yesterday's Observer - Available Here - which draws attention to the derisory attitude we have towards languages in the UK. Scarier than the fact that 57% of GCSE students (15/16 year olds) don't take any languages is the fact that even if they do they will not become fluent. I managed to get a GCSE in French, and yet I do not speak it, how can that be? Hutton is right to call for a change of attitude at all levels of society, only when language skills are appreciated in the media, in the playground and by businesses will we see a stepchange in people willing to go on and attain them. Languages should be a natural part of any education, taught thoroughly and engagingly they would not be a chore but a pleasure - but there needs to be some huge changes in how we approach languages before we reach anything like the level necessary for a European country i.e. the EU's 1+2 idea where you speak your native language and two others.