The Nobel laureate argues that we have reached a time in which there is no culture The intellectuals, the supine media, the political class have abandoned substance and discrimination and with treacherous enthusiasm adopted the idea of the image as truth. The liberal revolution of the 1960s, especially the events of 1968 in France, and… Read More ‘Notes on the Death of Culture’ by Mario Vargas Llosa
(the) planet’s billionaires have collectively “earned” (and yes, that’s in quotation marks for obvious reasons) $2.7 billion every one of the last 730 days. Meanwhile, in 2021 alone, at least 115 million people fell into “extreme poverty,” with billions more hanging on by a thread. By 2030, Oxfam reports, the world could be facing the “largest setback in addressing global… Read More Poverty Amid Plenty
Bharat Bhushan If Adani was allegedly just another rogue businessman, a discussion in the Parliament and the institution of a transparent inquiry into allegations of market manipulation should have been the order of the day. However, the demand for an enquiry was stamped down in Parliament by the power of the presiding officers last week.… Read More Censoring debate in Parliament will not help the government
Polly Toynbee This is deeply embarrassing. Today the Fire Brigades Union called off its planned strikes after being offered 7% for this year backdated, plus 5% next year, by the National Joint Council that negotiates for local authorities. Its members have yet to agree, but council workers settled for a similar deal because local authorities jointly are free to… Read More UK government is losing face on strikes; and millions of votes
4 Feb 2023 It is natural to expect that if the original goal of improving de jure central bank independence were to reduce political interference, de jure independence should be negatively correlated with politically motivated appointments. Therefore, if the stated goal is to make the central bank more politically independent, then we should expect less… Read More Central banks: How independent are they?
Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, said hard-pressed families were being treated like “cash machines” and would “rightly feel furious”. Calling for higher windfall taxes on oil and gas companies, he added: “As millions struggle to heat their homes and put food on the table, BP are laughing all the way to the… Read More British Petroleum scales back climate goals as profits more than double to £23bn
Rachel Ramirez, CNN Glaciers around the world are melting at an alarming rate, and are leaving massive pools of water in their wake. The meltwater fills the depression left behind by the glacier, forming what’s known as a glacial lake. As temperatures get warmer and more pieces of the glacier melt away, the lake rises — and living downstream… Read More An ‘inland tsunami’: 15 million people are at risk from catastrophic glacial lake outbursts
Anger has mounted in Turkey over what was described as a slow and inadequate response by authorities to the powerful earthquake that also hit neighbouring Syria, as the death toll passed 8,000 and chances of finding survivors narrowed. Rescuers worked through the night on Wednesday, searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings, while freezing conditions, destroyed roads… Read More Desperation and anger grow in search for Turkey and Syria earthquake survivors. Death toll nears 8400
Raksha Kumar Adani Watch is a unique news organisation. Its only goal is keeping tabs on an Indian conglomerate from outside the country. There are three reasons for this. The first one is the crisis in business journalism. “Business journalism in India is not investigative. It is mostly reliant on information leaks,” says Seshu from… Read More Indian business journalism in crisis
By Caitlin Johnstone / CaitlinJohnstone.com In what Austin journalist Christopher Hooks has called “one of the stupidest news cycles in living memory,” the entire American political/media class is having an existential meltdown over what the Pentagon claims is a Chinese spy balloon detected in U.S. airspace on Thursday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken cancelled his scheduled diplomatic visit to China after the… Read More US Surrounds China With War Machinery While Freaking Out About Balloons
After the truth-shower 