Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Keeping in step with ballroom moves
Roger Crutchley, Published on 02/11/2025
» The most entertaining news of the week was the response to President Donald Trump's demolition of the East Wing of the White House so he can build a "big, beautiful ballroom". It is probably fair to say it prompted a "mixed reaction" -- many being totally horrified.
Authoritarians' brave new cities
Oped, Robert Muggah & Carlo Ratti, Published on 23/09/2025
» Few policy ideas are as radical -- or as misleadingly packaged -- as "freedom cities". Championed by Silicon Valley's techno-libertarian elite and recently embraced by right-wing politicians like Donald Trump, the idea is to create digitally powered, master-planned enclaves of deregulated innovation.
A courageous article
Postbag, Published on 19/07/2025
» Re: "Corrupt monks have lost their way", (Opinion, July 14).
In the 'kingdom of silence', the caged bird raps
Oped, Mohammad Abu Hajar, Published on 18/07/2025
» In Syria, the caged bird raps. On my first night imprisoned, I began to write:
State entities too complex to be treated as startups
Oped, Mariana Mazzucato and Rainer Kattel, Published on 17/04/2025
» Around the world, governments are trying to reinvent themselves in the image of business. Elon Musk's DOGE crusade in the United States is quite explicit on this point, as is Argentina's chainsaw-wielding president, Javier Milei. But one also hears similar rhetoric in the United Kingdom, where Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden wants the government to foster a "test-and-learn" culture and move towards performance-based management.
Don't let governments break encryption
Oped, Jessica Dickinson Goodman and Ezequiel Passeron Kitroser, Published on 03/04/2025
» Imagine that some strange man wants a picture of your child. If it were the year 1750, he might commission an artist, who would then knock on your door and ask to paint a portrait. You could say no.
Venice suffers from 'beauty curse'
Oped, Edoardo Campanella, Published on 10/09/2024
» Countries with great wealth or natural abundance often fall victim to their own blessings. Economists have long known that resource-rich countries can get stuck in cycles of slow economic growth, intense environmental degradation, and weak democratic institutions. But places endowed with a unique artistic and architectural heritage also can suffer from this "resource curse". Breathtaking monuments from a storied past can generate economic rents and sectoral distortions, not unlike those created by large reserves of fossil fuels and precious minerals.
The lost cause of the 'Catalan Pimpernel'
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 14/08/2024
» Carles Puigdemont, the self-exiled leader of the Catalan separatist movement, aspires to become the new Scarlet Pimpernel. Last week he left Belgium, where he has lived as an unwelcome guest since he led a failed attempt to secede from Spain seven years ago, and had himself smuggled back to Barcelona, the capital of the region of Catalonia.
Illusion of fairness
Oped, Postbag, Published on 19/07/2024
» Re: "Residents slam survey result on Thailand's Thap Lan National Park", (BP, July 15) & "'Save Thap Lan' campaign just a ruse", (Opinion, July 12).
What makes a country really remarkable?
Oped, JOE MATHEWS, Published on 03/07/2024
» Great cities. That's a lesson the United Kingdom once knew well. Britain reached its imperial heights in the late 19th century in part because its municipalities were the world's most productive cities.