Vaccination success may be a shot in the arm for Britain in another key way
by Rashmee
Posted on February 22, 2021
/ BLIMEY BLIGHTY Simon Kuper wrote an important piece in the Financial Times (paywall) the other day about the pandemic-induced chance for success thrown up for Brexit Britain. I hope Boris Johnson and his advisers read it. “What national strengths does Britain’s vaccine success reveal?” he asked, “Is there a model here for Brexit Britain?” … Continue reading “Vaccination success may be a shot in the arm for Britain in another key way”
Read MoreBill Gates has gone from 0 to 100 on climate change and it shows in the words he uses
by Rashmee
Posted on February 19, 2021
/ LANGUAGE Me too. Like Connie Hedegaard, I too thought Bill Gates was supremely uninterested in climate change. Ms Hedegaard, former European Commissioner for climate action and Denmark’s former environment minister and minister for climate and energy, recently interviewed the Microsoft founder and good Samaritan for Project Syndicate. The occasion was publication of Mr Gates’s … Continue reading “Bill Gates has gone from 0 to 100 on climate change and it shows in the words he uses”
Read MoreGreen good news shoots from Britain
by Rashmee
Posted on February 17, 2021
/ BLIMEY BLIGHTY Two pieces of green good news from Britain. Only one is a direct result of Brexit. On February 1, Britain decided to ban bottom trawling, the fishing technique that allows enormous nets to be dragged along the bottom of the sea, in a protected area of the North Sea. This is to be … Continue reading “Green good news shoots from Britain”
Read MoreBiden wants the US to be a values-driven leader but is the world buying it?
by Rashmee
Posted on February 16, 2021 / The National
This weekend marks US President Joe Biden’s first month in the Oval Office, which means it is still early days for any concrete foreign policy decisions to have been taken. Thus far, Mr Biden has limited himself to feel-good postures on complex global issues. On February 19, he will deliver a virtual address at the … Continue reading “Biden wants the US to be a values-driven leader but is the world buying it?”
Read MoreBrexit Newspeak: End of free movement of people is ‘freedom’
by Rashmee
Posted on February 5, 2021
/ LANGUAGE January 1 was the first day that new (supposedly more free and therefore, more fulfilling) travel and trade rules went into effect for Britain in relation to the European Union. It finally happened…more than four years after Britain voted to leave the EU. Britain, Brexiteer politicians tell us, is finally free. Is it? … Continue reading “Brexit Newspeak: End of free movement of people is ‘freedom’”
Read MoreBig Tech is on trial
by Rashmee
Posted on February 4, 2021
/IT’S THE BUSINESS Last year, regulators in both the US and the EU were fairly tough on technology companies but 2021 may be a pivotal moment. There is growing concern that tech giants’ economic dominance is translating into political power – too much of it – as seen in Twitter’s decision to ban Mr Trump. … Continue reading “Big Tech is on trial”
Read MoreA more perfect union may be in sight for American labour
by Rashmee
Posted on February 2, 2021 / The National
Labour unions are back in the spotlight in the US and for all the right reasons. There are implications for organised workers’ movements everywhere, as well as for the call to rebalance the deepening divide between labour and capital. The resurgence goes beyond the obvious signals from America’s new administration. President Joe Biden has conspicuously … Continue reading “A more perfect union may be in sight for American labour”
Read MoreBrexit really has meant Brexit: ‘Let them eat cake’
by Rashmee
Posted on February 1, 2021
/ BREXIT BRITAIN In the month since Brexit properly began, consider all the things that have happened. The European Union (EU) and UK have begun their future relationship with a row over diplomatic protocol. Britain is refusing to grant full diplomatic privileges to the EU’s envoy in London, something more than 140 other countries have … Continue reading “Brexit really has meant Brexit: ‘Let them eat cake’”
Read MoreEurope looks to a new US president who knows what comes of ‘wrong patriotism’
by Rashmee
Posted on January 30, 2021
This, the second weekend since Joe Biden got to the White House, is a good moment to understand the depths of Europe’s dismay over his predecessor’s destructive and dangerous four-year presidency. Long story short, it’s basically a mixture of trepidation and hope that America, Europe and the world turns the page on Trumpism’s gleeful and … Continue reading “Europe looks to a new US president who knows what comes of ‘wrong patriotism’”
Read MoreHorsing around and exhortations: World to Biden’s America
by Rashmee
Posted on January 28, 2021
In the blissfully quiet first week of Joe Biden’s presidency, there’s been a lot of horsing around as well as more serious exhortations from around the world about the United States. Mostly it’s about the challenges faced by the country. Donald Trump isn’t always mentioned by name but he hangs – like a pall – over … Continue reading “Horsing around and exhortations: World to Biden’s America”
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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