Showing 1 - 10 of 30
Winning the battle against TB
News, Aaron Motsoaledi & Bjorn Lomborg, Published on 27/02/2025
» US President Donald Trump's spending freeze on foreign aid marks a significant challenge for the international development community, and many experts warn that diseases will surge.
School meal programmes give food for thought
News, Gordon Brown & Kevin Watkins, Published on 23/01/2025
» When governments adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015, they pledged to eliminate hunger and poverty. But today, as the SDGs' 2030 deadline approaches, a gulf separates their initial ambition and the reality on the ground. The 2020s are shaping up to be a lost decade for development -- and the world's most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of this slowdown.
Moving towards a fifth world order
Oped, Gordon Brown & Mohamed A El-Erian, Published on 26/10/2024
» The Bretton Woods institutions -- the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank -- are now 80 years old. But they are as under-resourced and poorly supported by national governments as at any time in their history. Their predicament is perhaps the clearest sign that economic and financial multilateralism is fragmenting along with the global economy. Worse, this fragmentation comes at a time of rising international tensions, financial fragility, sputtering growth, rising poverty, and mounting reconstruction bills in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
Invest in WHO for outsize returns
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 23/10/2024
» In August, 14 of Africa's poorest countries, alongside international organisations and private companies, pledged over US$45 million (1.5 billion baht) to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Investment Round, which aims to raise $7.1 billion in voluntary contributions to close its current funding gap for the next four years, improve primary care, and build a more robust, better-trained health workforce.
The UK's most working-class government
Oped, Aaron Reeves & Sam Friedman, Published on 09/07/2024
» The United Kingdom has a new Labour government whose class composition are radically different from previous ones. According to our analysis of Labour's shadow cabinet, some 46% of Keir Starmer's cabinet members were raised by parents with "working class" occupations. That figure is well above average in terms of the broader working population, and it stands in stark contrast to the 7% who were of working-class origin in the last Conservative cabinet.
US TikTok ban not the right move
Oped, Aaron Glasserman & Monica Greco, Published on 27/03/2024
» On March 13, the United States House of Representatives passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. It is no secret that the bill takes aim at TikTok. The massively popular video-sharing platform is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance and is thus subject to the laws of the People's Republic of China and potentially to the control of the Communist Party of China (CPC), despite assurances to the contrary from company executives.
Here's how to salvage COP28
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 30/11/2023
» The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai starts on Thursday. It has become increasingly clear that only a bold financing initiative spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates could provide essential funding and support to the Global South.
Global rulebook needs a facelift
Oped, Gordon Brown, Published on 28/09/2023
» After India's G20 summit and the UN General Assembly this month, world leaders next month will attend the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Marrakesh, before heading to the UN Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai. But there is little optimism that these summits will deliver meaningful progress in tackling our greatest challenges, not because of any lack of resolve, but because the global rulebook we have been following since the end of World War II is no longer fit for purpose.
Why do gamblers love to bet on football so much?
News, Aaron Brown & Richard Dewey, Published on 13/02/2023
» Billions of dollars will be wagered on the Super Bowl today, spotlighting the popularity of betting on football. A big part of the appeal is the scoring system, which was developed nearly 150 years ago by the "father of football," Walter Camp, and is unique among the globally popular team sports.
Did a fourth-grader write this, or Chatbot?
Claire Cain Miller, Adam Playford, Larry Buchanan and Aaron Krolik of the New York Times, Published on 04/01/2023
» NEW YORK: It’s hard to fully grasp the enormous potential of ChatGPT, a recently released artificial intelligence chatbot. The bot doesn’t just search and summarize information that already exists. It creates new content, tailored to your request, often with a startling degree of nuance, humor and creativity.