Contrary to what many scholars expected back in January 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic did not become China’s Chernobyl moment. Instead, more than a year later, the world has fallen into a collective amnesia that is familiar to Chinese citizens. As Kai Strittmatter pointed out in his book We Have Been Harmonized (2020), although the Chinese government’s cover […]
This book would be a bargain at any price, but it is free to download from the website of Springer, the publisher of many medical journals: Euthanasia: Searching for the Full Story: Experiences and Insights of Belgian Doctors and Nurses. Euthanasia, though legal in Belgium, is opposed by some healthcare professionals. This collection of essays contains insights and […]
In many ways, this might be the least surprising story of the century. After all, who would be surprised at the idea that a computer nerd, who suddenly finds himself the richest man in the world, might develop a taste for the ladies? The New York Times reports that Gates had at least one affair, […]
Towards the tail end of the Trump Presidency, there was much consternation amongst pro-choice people, and much celebration amongst pro-life people, at Trump’s successful replacement of iconic liberal Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg with star conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Amongst those who watch the Supreme Court, the perception was that the move would […]
Understanding the pros and cons of energy options from hydro, renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear, for the world’s diverse population, would be best for the future of society. With some energy literacy, folks may realize that there may not be a silver bullet answer for all of humanity’s energy needs. Whether you ultimately drive an […]
An extended family sleeping under one roof, eight of the children and two women were killed on Saturday morning in an Israeli airstrike.
See the opposite side of this debate, with Tim Jackson, at this link. To understand the reason why Israel does not tend to listen to Irish criticism of its approach to security, we should go back twenty years or so. In the year 2002, 239 Israelis were killed by Palestinian suicide bombers. Between 2002 and […]
On April 28, 2021, the daily newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, the People’s Daily, introduced to its readers the recently published book “Questions and Answers on the Study of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era” (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想学习问答), published by the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP. It is yet another book whose study will be […]
How times change. A week ago, the US Government’s official advice was that children would have to wear masks this summer while engaging in outdoor activities, like playing soccer. There was something of a backlash to that, and now the messaging has changed. And changed quite dramatically, too: Just a few hours ago, the Centers […]
A group of MIT researchers have published their findings on how the science on the effectiveness of masks is analysed by mask-critics, and they found that mask-critics were well informed and engaged deeply with the published data. They reported that: “Far from ignoring scientific evidence to argue for individual freedom, anti-maskers often engage deeply with […]
There are many things one could say about Donald Trump and his successor, Joe Biden, but perhaps the only thing one might say that would unite critics and fans of both is this: Trump was vastly more riveting telly, whether you considered him the hero, or the villain. And with him gone, the TV network […]
A report on Sky News Australia last night has added another dimension to the debate over the origins of the Covid-19 panic. This follows the claim which Gript covered last week that the virus had been artificially created in a laboratory in Wuhan, and then escaped into the general population. None of this implies that […]