Showing 1 - 10 of 444
Our tariff-era dollar, your problem
Oped, Qiyuan Xu, Published on 04/02/2026
» In 2025, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of major currencies, fell by roughly 9.4%. Over the same period, the United States' average effective tariff rate rose by around 14.4 percentage points, from 2.4% to 16.8%, according to the Yale Budget Lab. Taken together, these shifts imply that, in the import trade domain, the US experienced an effective exchange-rate depreciation of around 24%.
When repressive states choose terror over death
News, Alan Clements, Published on 23/01/2026
» Fyodor Dostoevsky -- one of the few writers to survive state terror and return with a psychology sharp enough to indict it.
It's the economic history, stupid
Oped, Iker Saitua, Published on 14/01/2026
» Every year, I walk into a first-year lecture hall in Bilbao at the University of the Basque Country (EHU) and watch shoulders slump. The title of the course I'm teaching -- "Economic History" -- draws a similarly dejected reaction from my students: "Meh." "Boooring." "What's this even for?" Some call it "the history class", as if it belonged to another century.
The end of China's one-child policy, 10 years later
Oped, Yi Fuxian, Published on 09/01/2026
» Jan 1 marked a decade since China repealed its one-child policy. Just ten days earlier, Peng Peiyun, who long oversaw the often-brutal enforcement of China's family-planning rules, died at the age of 96, having never been held accountable for her actions. Some obituaries praised Peng for being "reform-minded", even though, in practice, she only perpetuated an utterly inhumane policy, whose consequences have barely begun to materialise.
What happens when Christmas loses its soul to AI?
News, Timothy Snyder, Published on 23/12/2025
» While trying to work at a café the other day, I experienced the real war on Christmas. Hoping for the familiar hum of conversation and music, I was surprised upon entering that no one was talking. Still, I sat down with my notebook and attempted to focus my thoughts, but something was playing havoc with my concentration. The music seemed eerie. I lifted my head, listened, and became disturbed.
A good time of the year to chill out
Roger Crutchley, Published on 21/12/2025
» Normally at this stage of the calendar PostScript attempts a festive flavour, welcoming in the season of silly hats and hangovers, but this year it's a real struggle to find something to be festive about. At least the weather has cooperated, the lower temperatures giving us more of a wintry feeling. In that respect it is the most pleasant time of the year.
A lesson in geoengineering for grown-ups
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 18/12/2025
» A few days ago the European Union's Earth Observation programme, "Copernicus", made a special announcement at the end of its monthly report on the state of the climate. It said that the average global temperature for the past three years (2023-2025) has been 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. That's the level we were warned that we must never exceed.
The last word on weird book titles
Roger Crutchley, Published on 14/12/2025
» Being somewhat old-fashioned I still love browsing in bookshops. It provides a brief escape to a completely different world, both relaxing and therapeutic. Alas it is a pleasure future generations are unlikely to experience as these days bookshops are something of an endangered species.
Trade conflicts destroy the planet
Oped, Qiyuan Xu, Published on 12/12/2025
» Tariff wars are often justified as necessary to protect or reshore manufacturing jobs and to improve national security. But, according to new research, these conflicts produce another outcome that is largely overlooked: pollution. When global supply chains are forced into inefficient detours, carbon dioxide emissions rise.
Nepal's young protesters drive a political reset
Oped, Barbim Karki, Published on 27/11/2025
» Nepal announced fresh elections to be held on March 5 next year following a week of deadly violence in September as an interim government headed by the country's Sushila Karki, the first female prime minister, takes charge.