Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) I came into the cities in a time of disorderAs hunger reigned.I came among men in a time of turmoilAnd I rose up with them.And so passedThe time given to me on earth. I ate my food between slaughters.I lay down to sleep among murderers.I tended to love with abandon.I looked upon… Read More Bertold Brecht: To Posterity (1938)
Ron Srigley Universities, in the interest of increasing enrollments (= money), are willing to flatter you and your children so shamelessly … “During one class a couple of years ago, I dimmed the lights in order to show a clip of an interview. The moment the lights went down I saw dozens and dozens of… Read More Dear Parents: Everything You Need to Know About Your Son and Daughter’s University But Don’t
These companies now own everything from nurseries to care homes, squeezing vital services for profit while we foot the bill… As a style of ownership, private equity resembles the opposite of democracy. It concentrates power among a small group of exceptionally wealthy dealmakers who reap the benefits of society’s failure to hold them accountable. It’s no surprise… Read More Capitalism’s endgame: private equity – it has captured our everyday lives
Universities in Britain rely on overseas applicants paying full fees, which has given rise to some unscrupulous recruiters and left many hopefuls and their families deep in debt Samira Shackle hen Sam started looking into studying abroad, it didn’t take long for his phone to start ringing. At 24, he was living with his parents… Read More ‘I see it as trafficking’: the brutal reality of life as a foreign student in the UK
Oil has empowered capitalism, and some of the world’s most exploitative regimes. Move away from it and we can solve some of the key issues we face George Monbiot Irealise this is a serious breach of etiquette. But could we perhaps abandon good manners and contextualise Donald Trump’s attack on Iran? The intense western interest in… Read More We need to be honest about Iran – and how our rampant greed for oil is causing mayhem
Laura Paddison The vast data centers that power artificial intelligence guzzle huge amounts of energy but they also have another alarming impact, according to new research. They are creating “heat islands,” warming the land around them by up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit, and making life hotter for more than 340 million people. There are still… Read More Scientists have found an alarming environmental impact of vast data centers
The US-Israel war on Iran marks the decline of the Modi era. These years have shown, at immense cost, what happens when a leader confuses personal brand-building with nation-building. Sushant Singh THE US-ISRAEL WAR ON Iran has exposed, across the board, the limits of state capacity and the hollowness of carefully crafted images. Amid this escalating… Read More The Tides have Turned
Bhagat Ram Talwar, one of the greatest spies of the Second World War SILVER: The spy who fooled the Nazis by Mihir Bose Navtej Sarna Spies, by definition, live in a world of grey, but the life of Bhagat Ram Talwar, alias Silver, seems to have been exceptionally shadowy. Born a Hindu Pathan in the… Read More An unlikely Prince of Spies
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Every violation of international law invites the next. From Afghanistan to Iran, and across Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela, the line between what is permitted and what is prohibited has been steadily blurred by the complicit inaction of the UN security council. Wielding the veto as both a… Read More The security council has allowed unchecked power and brutality. To protect peace, we must reform the UN
AI and the crisis of meaning Alexander Stern “It isn’t absurd,” the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote in 1947, “to believe that the age of science and technology is the beginning of the end for humanity.” The proposition is looking less absurd by the day: AI may eventually turn on us; industrialization has turned the planet… Read More Wittgenstein’s Apocalypse
After the truth-shower 