Cabinet advises schools to lock phones away
Get European news in your inbox daily
A short daily digest of the whole continent — or just the countries you care about.
Check your email. We've sent a confirmation link — click it to complete your subscription.
The cabinet has tightened its advice on screen time, recommending that pupils leave their phones in lockers for the duration of the school day. Ministers say children face unacceptable risks online, a view shared by scientists who now want tech companies regulated to protect the mental health of the young. Whether lockers are a match for social media is another matter.
The recruitment methods of a violent group in Overasselt suggest the risks are not all theoretical; investigators report that the attackers were recruited via Snapchat under the slogan "everyone must die." Elsewhere, the tax authorities are hunting for missing millions in VAT revenue within the soft drink industry, prompting the FIOD investigative service to pursue specific cases of fraud.
Student debt has fallen for the first time, reaching a total of €28bn. This is a rare instance of a national debt figure moving in the right direction, though the individual reality remains less tidy: while the total is down, the number of students with exceptionally high debts continues to rise. Like the market for school textbooks, which a regulator has just declared ineffective, the economics of education remain difficult to balance.