Post-Christchurch social reconstruction: Global the message, local the onus
It is not enough to alert the public of social cracks: how they can be repaired must be part and parcel of any de-constructing exercise.
Christchurch and 'social cracks'
It was not, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern noted, “one of the darkest days,” in New Zealand's history, but “the darkest”. New Zealand
Back to a future jungle?
Green is “the colour of nature and health,” according to Jacob Olesen, a Dane lover of colours.
Iconoclast Donald J Trump?
To any question whether the US president and commander-in-chief is working against the country, Donald J Trump's tenure already supplied an overwhelming positive answer, even before he...
Thinking the unthinkable: A 'Chinese' Century?
Henry Luce deserves more than the credit he gets for predicting the “American Century” (in Life magazine, February 1941). That was after the League of Nations was unceremoniously buried, but before...
From Russia With Fatal Love
Ian Fleming's trademark narrative has returned: Russia playing the same old game he wrote so much about (if one remembers James Bond, his boss, M, and their Soviet obsession).
Canada's US dilemma
Every time Donald J Trump berates Canada, the friendliest neighbour any country could have, those Gerry Rafferty/Joe Egan lyrics from a Stealer's Wheel song rings through my mind.
Losing that IQ feeling?
Homo sapiens could not have faced the erosion of their cutting-edge claims at a worse time.
Puff the plastic dragon
Puff was a mythological dragon, made famous by one of the original, 1960s, folk-rock bands, consisting of Peter, Paul, and Mary. He lived “by the sea”, and would “frolic in the autumn mist” in a...
World Cup and International Relations
As one of the most widely watched human activity, soccer's World Cup Championship unleashes raw competition between countries, raising emotions that cover almost every stripe we know and...