As Paris pact turns five, climate change is the new cold war
by Rashmee
Posted on December 7, 2020
This is the week the Paris Climate Agreement marks its fifth birthday. December 12 is the big day. In its young life, the Paris deal has had some hairy moments. Most importantly, Donald Trump pulled out America, the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases. There were fears that other countries would follow but … Continue reading “As Paris pact turns five, climate change is the new cold war”
Read MoreAi Weiwei’s ‘History of Bombs’ makes an interesting point 75 years after Hiroshima
by Rashmee
Posted on August 4, 2020
This is the right week to be considering the great wrongs done by bombs. Small bombs such as the 2-kg Cipolli grenades dropped by Italy on Turkish positions in Libya in 1911. Big bombs such as the 22,000-pound Grand Slam used by RAF Bomber Command on Dresden in WWII. And the biggest one of all … Continue reading “Ai Weiwei’s ‘History of Bombs’ makes an interesting point 75 years after Hiroshima”
Read More75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a novel about the crack that joins broken objects to their past
by Rashmee
Posted on August 3, 2020
In August 1946, a year after an American B-29 bomber dropped the world’s first atomic bomb over Hiroshima, the New Yorker wrote a deeply reported piece on the recollections of six survivors. One of them was Kiyoshi Tanimoto, pastor of the Hiroshima Methodist Church. He saw “a tremendous flash of light cut across the … Continue reading “75 years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a novel about the crack that joins broken objects to their past”
Read MoreLondon reopens for business - but Covent Garden remains largely silent
by Rashmee
Posted on June 18, 2020
On Day Two of the great reopening of England’s economy a dead iPhone and an assiduously obtained Apple store appointment took me into Covent Garden, the heart of tourist London. It was mostly us and the pigeons. The elegant shopping arcades built by 17th century architect Inigo Jones were tranquil and empty. Without the pre-pandemic … Continue reading “London reopens for business - but Covent Garden remains largely silent”
Read MoreBubbles, air bridges, green lanes: Travel in a post-pandemic world
by Rashmee
Posted on June 6, 2020 / The Focus
It is a truism that the pandemic will change travel. How we travel, of course, but also where. Until there is a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes the covid-19 disease, international travel is set to resume in a strange new world of “bubbles”, “air bridges” and “green lanes”. What might the cartographical … Continue reading “Bubbles, air bridges, green lanes: Travel in a post-pandemic world”
Read MoreThe world watches America aflame and stands together under a common cause
by Rashmee
Posted on June 1, 2020 / The Focus
In Germany, a Bundesliga football player “took the knee” to show solidarity with George Floyd, the unarmed black man who died on 25 May in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer. Protests in solidarity with anti-racism demonstrators in the US broke out in cities around the world. They were in disparate locations — central … Continue reading “The world watches America aflame and stands together under a common cause”
Read More‘Sell city, buy country’? The pandemic won’t empty London, NYC
by Rashmee
Posted on May 14, 2020
Some very clever people are writing off cities. Not altogether, but quite substantially. Consider a new piece in Politico magazine by Parag Khanna, bestselling author and managing partner of the data and scenario-based strategic global advisory firm FutureMap. The pandemic “may cause fundamental shifts in our human geography,” Mr Khanna writes. “Why choose to stay in a … Continue reading “‘Sell city, buy country’? The pandemic won’t empty London, NYC”
Read MoreO brave new world. It’s the week it opens the door and gingerly peers out
by Rashmee
Posted on May 10, 2020
This is the week the world tries to recover its nerve even though we remain months away from a vaccine for Covid-19 and still have no cure. As 15-year-old Miranda said in Act V of The Tempest: “How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t!” Indeed, rather a brave attempt … Continue reading “O brave new world. It’s the week it opens the door and gingerly peers out”
Read MoreWhen coughing became a tool of terror
by Rashmee
Posted on March 30, 2020
In Canberra, Australia, two men were arrested on March 28 for coughing and spitting in public. In Hail, Saudi Arabia, a man with coronavirus could face the death penalty after spitting on trolleys and doors in a shopping centre. In Blackburn, England, a 40-year-old man was jailed after threatening to cough and spit at a … Continue reading “When coughing became a tool of terror”
Read MoreThe Asian footprint (or perhaps that should read foodprint) is pronounced in Vancouver
by Rashmee
Posted on February 1, 2020
In most of my time in Vancouver, I ate richly and well of the foods of different countries in Asia. The first night was Vietnamese. The second day was Chinese (dim sum) and Japanese (sushi). There was “Indian Chinese” on day three and Indian Punjabi (chole bhature) on day four. And so it went. The … Continue reading “The Asian footprint (or perhaps that should read foodprint) is pronounced in Vancouver”
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Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK