Archive for the ‘World current affairs’ Category
Whatever happened to Sweden?
September 20th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
For social democrats like me, Sweden has long been an inspirational social and political model and, in most surveys of the world’s best countries, Sweden is one of the top nations. The Social Democrats have ruled Sweden for 65 of the past 78 years and are credited with setting up the country’s generous welfare state […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What’s happening in Australia?
September 4th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
In June, a General Election in the UK led to the incumbent Labour Government losing its majority. Following the indecisive outcome of the poll, a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was formed in five days – the first coalition government for 70 years. Two weeks ago, a Federal Election in Australia led to the incumbent Labor Government […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (220): Monaco
September 3rd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Monaco is the second-smallest independent state in the world (after the Vatican City). It is a playground for tourists and a haven for the wealthy, the former drawn by its climate and the beauty of its setting and the latter by its advantageous tax regime. The country – a constitutional monarchy – is surrounded on […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (219): Guadeloupe
September 2nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The French territory of Guadeloupe with a population of 400,000 is a centre of Caribbean Creole culture. French, African and Caribbean influences infuse its music, dance, food and widely-spoken patois. Guadeloupe’s economy is kept afloat by public salaries and credits from Paris. Unemployment has been a long-running malaise, although its effects are tempered by France’s […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (218): Bermuda
September 1st, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Bermuda, a densely-populated British overseas territory in the western Atlantic Ocean, is an archipelago of seven main islands which is one of the world’s most prosperous economies. This wealth is largely down to the islands’ offshore finance industry; more than 13,000 international companies have made the self-governing territory their nominal base. The population is a […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (217): Pakistan
August 31st, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Pakistan is in the news for terrorism (regularly) and floods (currently), but there is much more to this nation of 180 million, the sixth most populous on the planet. Created in 1947 when it was carved out of India as a new Muslim state, it remains a nuclear-armoured rival to its huge neighbour with Pakistan […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Ever heard of the Russian memorial to 9/11?
August 30th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
No, I hadn’t either until it was drawn to my attention by a friend who is a former communist in the context of his argument that in the West we should cease to see Russia in old Cold War terms. You can check out the memorial here. It is an impressive piece of work and […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
Forgotten World (216): India
August 30th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
It’s been some time since I had one of my regular weeks of postings in my long-running series called Forgotten World – a look at parts of the world that too rarely feature in our media or thoughts. You can check the previous 215 entries here. Since almost one in five of the world’s citizens […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)
What’s the best country in the world?
August 28th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
No – it’s not North Korea. According to a study published in this week’s “Newsweek” magazine, it’s Finland. After Finland comes Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, and Luxembourg respectively. The USA is ranked 11th and the UK 14th. Only 100 nations are ranked and Burkina Faso comes bottom of the list. Full details here.
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (2)
This week’s national election (2)
August 22nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I’ve already done a posting about one national election this week. This was in Rwanda where the result could not have been clearer. The other national election this week was in Australia where the result is so close that we still do not know the final outcome and might not for some days or even […]
Posted in World current affairs | Comments (0)