Showing 1 - 5 of 5
2019 ushers in era of state control
News, John Lloyd, Published on 07/01/2019
» A signature theme of the new year is the possibility of a malign confrontation between the world's greatly enhanced capacity for electronic surveillance and the weakening of democratic control. The antidote to that risk is the democratic spirit and civil freedoms -- both of which are suffering worldwide. These are not dead, but they are unwell, at times untended.
Expect 2019 to test global stability
News, John Lloyd, Published on 03/01/2019
» The resignation of US Defence Secretary James Mattis stands not only as a radical disassociation from the actions of the president he served, but as a foreboding for the future, a warning for 2019 -- and beyond. And, for all the assurances the world is getting better, such as Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now, there are huge geopolitical challenges to face and master to make that optimism real.
Beware the online culture warriors
News, John Lloyd, Published on 22/10/2018
» The news media in the Western world remains dominated by newspapers, magazines and broadcasters still known as the mainstream. The most vivid proof of their continued reign over public opinion is in the figure of US President Donald Trump, whose repeated attacks on "failing" publications like The New York Times and the Washington Post as "enemies of the people" is a backhanded tribute to their continued power.
In illiberal societies, a wider #MeToo movement
News, John Lloyd, Published on 13/02/2018
» In China, women calling themselves the "silence breakers" have demanded investigations into allegations of sexual harassment. In doing so, they pit themselves against a macho culture, a Communist Party deeply allergic to independent citizens' initiatives, and an exaggerated and assiduously cultivated respect for hierarchies, themselves male-dominated.
Once centres of hope, political parties are dying
News, John Lloyd, Published on 03/01/2018
» There's little difficulty in showing that some of the most venerable political parties of the democratic world may be facing terminal crises. The difficulty is in determining if government by a party or parties -- the sustaining base of administrations the democratic world over -- can last.