Showing 1 - 10 of 44
Iran: Drought, incompetence, revolution?
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 22/11/2025
» Twenty years of strict sanctions on Iran by both the United States and the United Nations did not bring down the regime of the ayatollahs. Half a dozen major waves of non-violent protest involving several thousand deaths have not brought it down either. Even last June's massive bombing campaign by Israel and the US did not bring it to heel.
Bolt from the blue
Oped, Postbag, Published on 29/09/2025
» Re: "Safety first in golf", (PostBag, Sept 25) & "Caddie dies after being hit by lightning on golf course", (BP, Sept 23).
It's time for investors to play the long game
News, Jay Pelosky, Published on 03/06/2025
» Investing, like golf, is a mix of both the short and the long game. In the wild first half of 2025, investors have mostly focused on the short game, but now that we appear to be entering a period of relative calm, investors can start looking much farther down the fairway.
Why banks keep lowering their climate targets
News, Alastair Marsh, Published on 12/03/2025
» When Morgan Stanley moved the goalposts back on its climate targets in October, members of the industry's biggest climate alliance were caught off guard.
Trump can't do that much climate damage
News, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 23/01/2025
» 'Drill, baby, drill", exulted the new President of the World (American branch), but he will find that the oil and gas industry isn't listening. As Darren Woods, CEO of ExxonMobil, tactfully put it in November: "I'm not sure how 'drill, baby, drill' translates into policy."
Role of banks in climate change future
Oped, Sarinee Achavanuntakul, Published on 22/01/2025
» On Jan 10, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced that 2024 was the warmest year on record, likely the first year with a global mean temperature of more than 1C above the 1850-1900 average. Despite the alarming fact, the year 2025 is not off to a good start. The same week that WMO made that ominous announcement, JP Morgan became the sixth and latest bank in the United States to withdraw from the UN-backed Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), following the earlier exits of Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs -- all of which left since the start of last month.
Global warming and the burning issue of money
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/11/2024
» It's hard to imagine a less plausible venue for the annual UN-sponsored conference on climate than the dictatorial petrostate of Azerbaijan. Baku, the capital, has a walled medieval centre that's worth a day or two, but offshore the shallow Caspian Sea is littered with a century's worth of old and new oil wells.
Why do some countries prosper while others falter?
News, Jeffrey Frankel, Published on 06/11/2024
» Why have some countries grown rich and others not? The three winners of this year's Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences -- Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A Robinson -- offer a simple answer: institutions. Countries with "inclusive" institutions -- which underpin an open society, accountable government, economic freedom, and the rule of law -- do better than those with "extractive" institutions that reward those in power.
We can always live in a dollhouse
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/07/2024
» Thai tourism authorities are always quick to make the most of any new fad, which might explain the appearance of a life-sized Labubu doll on the front page of the Bangkok Post this week. Apparently, the mascot is part of a promotion to attract Chinese tourists. I confess to not knowing anything about the Labubu craze although the Post's doll correspondent informs me the designer doll is a "kind-hearted monster with pointed ears and serrated teeth". Hmmm.
It's feeling a bit on the warm side
Roger Crutchley, Published on 07/04/2024
» It was Oscar Wilde who observed that "conversation about the weather is the last refuge of the unimaginative". He might have had a point but it means there are a lot of unimaginative people in Thailand at present. I can hardly recall a conversation lately without a reference to the heat. It has definitely been "a bit on the warm side".