Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Modern world leaders are just walking cliches
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 30/07/2019
» One of the most striking things about Boris Johnson, who became UK prime minister, is how precisely he fits the stereotype of the eccentric upper-class Brit. With his elevation, Britain joins several major nations led by people who embody their national stereotypes and not the best of them at that. However, it could be argued that it's leaders defying such cliches who take their countries forward.
The year of the woeful world leaders
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 28/12/2018
» The dictionaries have decided on their 2018 words of the year. Oxford picked "toxic". Merriam-Webster went for "justice". Collins chose "single-use". However, I'd zero in on "misgovernment". Surely, 2018 saw a number of countries misruled by the worst crop of world leaders in recent memory.
Yes, Russia abused Facebook. But did it actually work?
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/12/2018
» Russia's propaganda operations during the 2016 US presidential election were broader than previously thought, according to two recently published studies. But they don't provide proof the influence campaign was as effective as the Kremlin may have hoped. Both reports, based on data provided by social networks, combine a distrust of the companies' disclosures and a naive trust in the metrics they tout.
Twitter struggling to engineer healthy conversation
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 05/03/2018
» Facebook's self-regulatory contortions in the wake of fake news and trolling scandals have gone on, with little visible effect, for months. Now Twitter founder and Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey has announced his company is going to try a different tack -- but Mr Dorsey's approach is arguably even more far-fetched than his Facebook peer Mark Zuckerberg's: It's an attempt to view Twitter's social mess as an engineering problem.
Catch some Pokemon and get a glimpse of the future
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 20/07/2016
» One of the interesting debates over Pokemon Go, the addictive smartphone game that 9.5 million Americans play -- and probably a lot more than that now -- is whether it's truly augmented reality (AR), an up-and-coming companion technology to virtual reality (VR).
Violence takes root in our words
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 14/12/2015
» The Oxford Dictionaries' selection for the 2015 Word of the Year -- the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji -- suggests that UK linguists live in a rather carefree world. In other countries, the selections were not as upbeat.
Greek perception of 'firm deal' seems to be a bit hazy
News, Leonid Bershidsky, Published on 10/07/2015
» It's easy to lose count of "final" deadlines that have been missed in the past five months of negotiations between Greece and its creditors. The latest is Sunday, when, according to European Council President Donald Tusk, Greece will face "really and truly the final wake-up call". It's possible the Greeks don't believe it is quite that final.