The ugly debacle of parliamentary corruption, moral if not legal, yesterday culminated in the resignation of British House Speaker Michael Martins. In case you missed it, the sorry saga revolves around systemic abuse of privilege by our parliamentarians revealed by the Daily ...read more
By Nana Ampofo I won't pretend to be knowledgeable about this extended South Asian conflict but you can't go wrong reading "Wronging Rights" in most things, but international law especially. Last thursday's post makes the profound point, applicable to recent conflicts fought ...read more
Think back to the stimulus bill. With hindsight, spending on flu preparedness... not pork. Or if pork, good pork. ...read more
The many tragedies of the 2005 atlantic hurricane season have been seared into our collective consciousness.However, even after Spike Lee's brilliantfilm "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts", some aspects of the story are only now making themselves felt. According to a ...read more
This article had me in hysterics. If yousaw Blood Diamond, have ever reada Bruce Anderson column in the Independent, bought a wilbur smith book orwere there with Geldof in 2005 or with Sarkozy last year, you'll be familiar with the theme. ...read more
I will not pretend to have a full command of the financial market/real economy debacle we find ourselves in. Few do. But there are a few developments we should be aware of. First, the Hank Paulson rescue plan as it stands will not achieve the stated ends, according to much of the ...read more
If you thought the neo-con project was dead in the water check out this piece in the Telegraph... Lord save us from another four yrs of lunacy! ...read more
Post-apartheid South Africa has numerous critics, the bulk of whom sit across the political divide from myself. Let me be honest, I am comfortable with the affirmative action or black economic empowerment programme that offends so many. It's tragic that yesterday's elites may be ...read more
by Nana Ampofo I spent yesterday evening at the Clapham Picture House in South West London watching a film called "In Prison All My Life", principally about the unfair trial of a former black panther Mumia Abu Jamal for the murder of a white police officer, Daniel Faulkner. Abu ...read more
This article from the ever useful pambazuka news gives an interesting account of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and its prescient report on Kenya two years before the current political crisis. The APRM is an imperfect continental developent initiative rooted in the ...read more
Another interesting piece from Dani Rodrik. This time on double standards in the analysis and treatment of the East Asian crisis versus current financial market turbulence. Get informed!... the world is a much more complex place than the copiousdissent type bloggers of this world ...read more
If there's anything that developing countries are lacking, it is time. Developmental needs press up against changing internal and external environments constantly. Output must expand in order to satisfy the developmental needs of a growing population. Commodity prices are high ...read more
Something is in the air. Intellectual bulwarks of the status quo have been shaken by recent financial market turbulence. Read this article from FT Associate Editor Michael Skapinker in which he quotes Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann saying... wait for it... "I no longer believe ...read more
