Authoritarianism
The price of energy
The rise in energy prices has been confusing me. With standing charges being increased three or more fold and the cost per unit heading for the stratosphere, what on earth is going on. There is [more…]
Politics
America
History does not repeat, but sometimes it rhymes
Puffins of a certain age will recall that seminal moment in 1987 when Mathias Rust, a West German teenager, seemingly did the impossible when he flew a Cessna light aircraft through 500 miles of the [more…]
20th Century
City of Insane Warlords and Technicals
Death has become too commonplace to matter. The two greatest products in Mogadishu are shooting and rumours: from morning to night, they manufacture rumours, from night to morning they manufacture shootings – Mohamoud Afrah. Mogadishu: [more…]
Business
The death of the middle class is the death of civil society
The blame game As we know from every crisis in human history, and especially the more recent ones, the most important item on any politician’s agenda is to find someone else to blame for it. [more…]
20th Century
Somalia – Western Economic Colonialism
Somalia’s recent history is also a tale of grave miscalculations made by foreigners in a very foreign land. Knowing nomads happily demonstrated their supremacy and disdain for outsiders, the so-called fruits of civilization were not [more…]
Business
The death of the middle class is the death of civil society
The middle class in the West has been shrinking for years, but after the covid crisis and especially after the inflation explosion, whatever was left of it is now basically under threat of extinction. This [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From India; Gandhi, His Politics, The People
As I’ve said before during this series of posts, following my recent trip to The Sub Continent, India is a land of often stark contrasts. Its population (official figure) is approaching 1.5 billion people, nobody [more…]
21st Century
Kenya Election Context
Some more on the background context of how Kenya got to where it currently is. The presidential contest election was effectively a two-horse race between Deputy President William Ruto and veteran politician Raila Odinga. Neither [more…]
20th Century
Letter from Stafford, Two
Wayne stopped by last night to tell me his interwebs had been cut off for being in arrears, and he wanted to use mine to download some documents from his barrister regarding child custody. He’s [more…]