Showing 1 - 10 of 17
Technology gives a little hope for climate: Part 2
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 05/06/2024
» It was technology that got us into this climate crisis, and it will be technology that gets us out of it. Specifically, technology that lets us go on living in a high-energy civilisation without burning fossil fuels, and technology that keeps the heat from overwhelming us while we work towards that goal.
Democracy survives crucial test in Senegal
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 04/04/2024
» The crisis in Senegal, the one country in West Africa that has never had a military coup, has passed. Few people outside Africa were paying close attention to it, but I'm sure you will be pleased to know that democracy has survived.
Is it the end of populism, or just a pause?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/06/2023
» We're going to miss the populist "big beasts" now that they're gone. Who will now tell us that "Voting Conservative will cause your wife to have bigger breasts and increase your chances of owning a BMW M3"? (Boris Johnson) Who will describe Barack Obama as "handsome, young and also suntanned"? (Silvio Berlusconi)
Earthquakes, Turkish politics and culpability
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 15/02/2023
» If you are trying to dodge the blame for a great disaster, the best policy is to say that it was God's will. So Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, visiting one of the 6,000 buildings that collapsed on their sleeping residents in eastern Turkey last week, said: "Such things have always happened. It's part of Destiny's plan."
In Iran, all options to curb crisis are bad
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/10/2022
» 'Death to [fill in the blank]!" has been the slogan of choice chanted by Iranian protesters since the glory days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. ("Death to the Shah!", "Death to America!", etc) It's now forty-three years later, however, and the content has become a bit more nuanced.
Will Xi Jinping be in charge of China forever?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/10/2022
» In the Chinese Communist Party's 20th National Congress, which begins in Beijing on Sunday, President Xi Jinping is expected to be confirmed as president-for-life. If that actually happens, China's ascent to genuine superpower status will be at least delayed. At worst (from the Chinese perspective), it may not happen at all.
Could Boris Johnson make a comeback?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 03/09/2022
» As a child, outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly said he wanted to be "King of the World". He ended up in a somewhat humbler role, was rejected by his own party's members of parliament for his mendacity, corruption and incompetence, and will hand over to his successor, Liz Truss, on Monday. But the Fat Lady still hasn't sung.
Will Covid-19 bring basic income?
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 19/05/2020
» The First World War speeded up the emancipation of women; the Second World War led to the creation of welfare states in all the industrialised countries. What great change will the coronavirus crisis bring us?
Covid-19 offers odd glimpse of a new future
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 25/03/2020
» They teach you in journalism school never to use the phrase "...X has changed the world forever". Or at least they should. Covid-19 is certainly not going to change the world forever, but it is going to change quite a few things, in some cases for a long time. Here's nine of them, in no particular order.
Is the Wuhan 'devil virus' a 'black swan'?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/02/2020
» China officially went back to work on Monday, after an extended two-week Lunar New Year holiday, while the authorities struggled to get the spread of the new coronavirus under control. But a lot of Chinese are not going back to work yet, and the spread of the "devil virus" (as President Xi Jinping called it) is manifestly not under control.