Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
10 years of death, destitution and devastation in the Syrian civil war
March 15th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
On 9 March 2011, I passed from Syria into Lebanon after a week touring the main sights of Syria. Just six days later and exactly ten years ago today, the Syrian civil war began – although, at the time, the first protests were barely reported and nobody would have imagined the resultant scale and duration […]
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Just how worried should we be by the threat of terrorism?
March 6th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “21 Lessons For The 21st Century” by the Israeli writer Yuval Noah Harari. I am stunned by the breadth of his knowledge of different subjects, different nations and different periods of history. In a chapter of terrorism, he asks us to keep threats to life in perspective: “Since 11 September 2001, […]
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How well do you know the flags of the world?
March 4th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
I am currently reading “21 Lessons For The 21st Century” by the Israeli writer Yuval Noah Harari. I am stunned by the breadth of his knowledge of different subjects, different nations and different periods of history. In a chapter about how the world has become a global civilisation, he instances how flags of the world […]
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Mega-rich recoup COVID-losses in record-time yet billions will live in poverty for at least a decade
January 27th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
In this week of each year, politicians, business leaders and policy wonks gather in the Swiss resort of Davos in Switzerland. This year, the event is happened virtually because of the global pandemic. But, as usual, Oxfam has published its annual review of inequality in the world and the main theme of the 2021 report […]
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Happy 75th anniversary to the United Nations
January 10th, 2021 by Roger Darlington
The first meeting of the General Assembly of the United Nations started 75 years ago today. The event ran from 10 January to 14 February 1946. But where did you think this meeting was held? Not in the subsequent headquarters of the UN in New York City which I’ve visited a couple of times. No, […]
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The case for a wealth tax has never been stronger
December 11th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
One of the most defining characteristics of my political philosophy is that we need to create a society with a fairer distribution of income, wealth and power because current levels of inequality are so damaging to life chances and social outcomes. There is a great deal of evidence to support this position in the book […]
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A review of “Ten Lessons For a Post-Pandemic World” by Fareed Zakaria
December 3rd, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Zakaria is an Indian-American political scientist who hosts CNN’s flagship international affairs show. His book – published in October 2020 with information as recent as July 2020 – is immensely topical, informative and thought-provoking, even if there is nothing terribly original or radical in it and too few proposals for practical change. My effort at […]
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Why are coronavirus infection rates and deaths so much lower in Africa than in the rest of the world?
November 17th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
According to an article in the “Independent” newspaper, it was a year ago today that the first coronavirus case was recorded in China. Since then, the global pandemic has infected 55.1 million and killed 1.33 million. Every nation on earth and every part of the globe has been impacted by the virus, but surprisingly the […]
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What is the most important relationship in global politics?
October 30th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
In my last posting, I wrote about a talk hosted online by the London School of Economics. The talk was delivered by Fareed Zakaria who is an Indian-American journalist, political scientist, and author. He was introducing ideas from his new book “Ten Lessons For a Post-Pandemic World”, The session was chaired by Andrés Velasco, formerly finance […]
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“The next crisis could be the last crisis.”
October 29th, 2020 by Roger Darlington
Before the global pandemic, I would regularly attend free evening lectures at the London School of Economics. Now such events are all online and this week I attended a particularly fascinating talk by Fareed Zakaria who is an Indian-American journalist, political scientist, and author. He was introducing ideas from his new book “Ten Lessons For a […]
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