麻豆社

Pascale Harter introduces personal insights, wit and analysis from 麻豆社 correspondents and journalists around the world.

The Turkish lira has lost at least half its value against the US dollar in 2021 - and the slide seems to be continuing. Recent statements by President Erdogan have not done much to improve the exchange rate, and the economy is now a major worry for his ruling party and its voters. Ayla Jean Yackley's seen the effects of inflation on shoppers' pockets - and on wholesalers' account books - in Istanbul.

Colombia's Covid death rate was not has high as those in Peru or Brazil, but the country's health system took a battering from successive waves of the virus over the past year. One patient who saw how the system coped - or didn't - during the peaks of hospital admissions was Mathew Charles, who has his own memories of surviving the virus, and reflects on the structural inequalities embedded in its health care.

As in many European cities, the streets of Copenhagen can be dangerous at night - particularly for sex workers. In Denmark, many of the women and girls working the red-light district have already suffered abuse, trafficking and intimidation, and they also have potentially violent clients to deal with. Linda Pressly's been to meet several groups of activists who are trying out new ways of making the sex trade safer, which include free advice centres, confidential clinics and even a supervised van where the women can do business.

Do you simply have too much stuff? Hoarding can be an occupational hazard for foreign correspondents, who travel often, visit interesting places, and tend to pick up the memorabilia which clusters around big news events. Colin Freeman rummages though his own collection of souvenirs picked up during two decades' reporting abroad, from the bullet which injured him in Iraq, to the set of chess figures shaped from tin foil - now slightly squashed - which once helped distract him during weeks of being held hostage.

(Women shop at a local market in Istanbul. Credit: Reuters/Murad Sezer/File Photo)