Most South African farmers are black: why Trump got it so wrong: When world leaders engage, the assumption is always that they engage on issues based on verified facts, which their administrative staff are supposed to prepare. Under this assumption, we thought the meeting at the White House on 21 May between South Africa’s president, …
Humanitarian aid depends on good data: what’s wrong with the way it’s collected: The defunding of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), along with reductions in aid from the UK and elsewhere, raises questions about the continued collection of data that helps inform humanitarian efforts. Humanitarian response plans rely on accurate, accessible and up-to-date …
South African troops are dying in the DRC: why they’re there and what’s going wrong: The death of South African soldiers on a Southern African Development Community (SADC) mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has sparked fierce debate about the deployment of South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers there. Some, including political …
COP29 failed Africa – what went wrong with the climate financing bid and what happens next: The United Nations’ 29th annual climate change conference of the parties, COP29, ended with countries from the global north committing US$ 300 billion per year in climate finance to developing countries. This money is meant to pay for developing …
Vulture Capitalism: Grace Blakeley’s new book is smart on what has gone wrong since the 1980s: Vulture Capitalism argues that there's no fixing the system. Bloomsbury, CC BY-SA Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts and the Death of Freedom is the latest book from the English economic and political journalist – and rising progressive star …
The idea that US interest rates will stay higher for longer is probably wrong: The 0.4% rise in US consumer prices in March didn’t look like headline news. It was the same as the February increase, and the year-on-year rise of 3.5% is still sharply down from 5% a year ago. All the same, this …
Waiting for Trump to be re-elected is wrong – Nato leaders need to Trump-proof their policies now: The re-election of Donald Trump as US president would cause another enormous shock to international politics. The world is full of crises, such as Ukraine and Gaza. But Trump casts a destabilising shadow over all these issues. How …
Big companies, like Nestlé, are funding health research in South Africa – why this is wrong: In 2021, the director of the African Research University Alliance Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of Pretoria was appointed to the board of the transnational food corporation Nestlé. At the time a group of more …
Instapoetry is successful and there’s nothing wrong with that: It looks like this: words of encouragement or about love divided into stanzas signed off with the poet’s name Instagram poetry has made writers like Rupi Kaur and Donna Ashworth rise to stardom, amassing thousands of followers and earning them quite a bit of money. As …
Is China preparing for a war over Taiwan, or has the west got it wrong? Here are the indicators: At a time when Russia has been making gains in Ukraine and the Middle East appears to be on the brink of further regional conflict, a China-US military stand off is the last thing the world …
Five things you probably have wrong about the T rex: Jacob Lund/Shutterstock An icon from the age of dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex has featured in everything from blockbuster movies to the shape of chicken nuggets. As a creature to be feared for its bone-crushing bite or ridiculed for its inability to give a high five, T …
The Wrong Trousers: why the Wallace and Gromit animation is still a family favourite 30 years later: It has been 30 years since “It’s the wrong trousers Gromit! And they’ve gone wrong!” blared out for the first time in the Aardman Animations short film, The Wrong Trousers (1993). Wallace and Gromit’s first outing in A …
Work Christmas parties: know your rights so things don’t go wrong at your office do: Cookie Studio/Shutterstock Back in 2000, financial publisher Bloomberg blew a reported £1 million on an office party with a “seven deadly sins” theme for its 1,500 British employees. As well as a “lust room” containing a 25-foot-wide bed of purple …
East Africa’s troops are leaving the DRC: what went wrong and what comes next: The East African Community deployed a regional force for the first time into eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2022. Just over a year later, the troops have started withdrawing amid tension with the host state. We asked Jenna Russo, …
COP28: South Africa pioneered plans to transition to renewable energy – what went wrong: South Africa’s experience in piloting a new type of climate finance vehicle can inform debates about how to fund a just transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. Two years ago at COP26, South Africa piloted the first Just Energy Transition …
Blue Eye Samurai: historian explains what the Netflix series gets right and wrong about real Edo-period Japan: Warning: this article includes spoilers for Blue Eye Samurai. Netflix’s Blue Eye Samurai is an anime series set during the opening decades of Japan’s Edo period (1603–1867), also known as the Tokugawa period. Among other subjects, the series …
COP28 president is wrong – science clearly shows fossil fuels must go (and fast): John Hanson Pye/Shutterstock According to the president of COP28, the latest round of UN climate negotiations in the United Arab Emirates, there is “no science” indicating that phasing out fossil fuels is necessary to restrict global heating to 1.5°C. President Sultan …
Doctor Who: what the show gets wrong about climate change and energy justice ? new research: Fans across the globe have been celebrating 60 years of Doctor Who – the world’s longest-running science fiction series. It may at times seem silly and childish, but people’s ideas of how the world works, could work and should …