Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
Does trickle-down economics work? Guess who says that it doesn’t.
June 16th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The idea that increased income inequality makes economies more dynamic has been rejected by an International Monetary Fund study, which shows the widening income gap between rich and poor is bad for growth. A report by five IMF economists dismissed “trickle-down” economics, and said that if governments wanted to increase the pace of growth they […]
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What do the radicals of this generation want when they win power? Not what earlier generations wanted.
June 8th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
“… what do the radicals of this generation want when they win power? The success of Syriza, of Podemos in Spain and even the flood of radicalised young people into the SNP in Scotland makes this no longer an idle question. The most obvious change is that, for the rising generation, identity has replaced ideology. […]
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A moving, and ultimately uplifting, story from the ravages of Afghanistan
May 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Virtually all the news we receive from Afghanistan is depressing. So it is heart-warming to hear of the magnificent efforts of musicologist Ahmad Sarmast to create an institute for classical music in Kabul, although tragic to find that the price has been serious damage to his hearing. You can read this moving story here.
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10 shocking truths about gun violence
May 19th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In a special feature in today’s “Guardian” newspaper, it is suggested that there are almost one billions guns around the world and that over a million around the globe are injured by guns each year. The most shocking situation is that in the United States: “The US has more guns per person than any other […]
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Remembering Syria’s suffering people and threatened heritage
May 17th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
In the spring of 2011, Vee and I had a holiday in Syria and Lebanon [for account of our visit, see here]. We crossed the border from one country to the other on 9 March 2011. Mass protests erupted on 15 March in Damascus and Aleppo, and spread in the following days to more cities, […]
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Should the North of England become part of Scotland?
May 16th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Of course, it’s a crazy idea – but tens of thousands apparently support the bizarre notion as you can see here. I have relatives in Scotland, I was brought up in Manchester, and I live in London. I want to see a United Kingdom. Around the world, people think that redrawing boundaries solves political and […]
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Has the new Cold War already begun?
May 14th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
It seems that, for the Russians, it already has. In the West, we see the Russians as the aggressors: intervening militarily in Georgia and Ukraine, constantly testing the security defences of other European nations, and backing a president who seems to want to isolate his country more and more from international norms. Of course, the […]
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British general election (17): how did all the polls get it so wrong?
May 9th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
The failure of all the polls to predict the actual outcome of the General Election has rightly caused many questions to be asked. There is to be an inquiry commissioned by the British Polling Council into what went wrong. But this is a wider problem than Britain, In other countries, like the USA and Israel, […]
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How happy are people in your country? Check out where your nation comes in this list of 158.
April 27th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
For three years now, there has been an attempt to rank nations by how happy they are. In the latest report, the UK comes 21st, while the USA is 15th out of 158. It is noticeable that, all the top 13 countries, have small populations. Where does your country come in the list? Switzerland (7.587) […]
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Feeling for the people of Nepal
April 26th, 2015 by Roger Darlington
Nepal has suffered its worst earthquake in more than 80 years with at least 1,500 deaths. One always feels more acutely for the tribulations of a country, when one has actually been there. In 2003. Vee and I made a visit to Nepal, staying in the capital Kathmandu. We met some lovely people but the […]
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