A brief overview and contextualization of the Ukrainian crisis
On November 21, 2013, a chain of events began which have resulted in a crisis that many consider to be the most pressing threat to global stability today. When Ukraine’s ex-president Viktor Yanukovych suspended involvemen...
The secret killings of Assam: skeletons from the closet
Dr Dharanidhar Das was my parents’ classmate in high school. A shy, quiet, intelligent man who spent more time with his poetry than his medical books. This man was the leprosy doctor in Juluki in the village of Barama, invol...
The legacy of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew, who led the city-state Singapore from 1959 until 1990, has died at the age of 91. Of his life, Lee once said: “Singapore is my concern till the end of my life. Why should I not want Singapore to continue to succ...
The democratic conundrum: Wasting money and alienating voters
Plato regarded social democracy as an immense concern. Aristotle called it a ‘deviant’ – the opposition to majority rule’s nobler version, the polity. In fact, throughout political philosophy’s history, influential sc...
Why the UK’s General Election is being fought between heads and hearts
“Do you ever get the feeling that the only reason we have elections is to find out if the polls were right?” Robert Orben’s comedic take on pre-election build-up takes on new meaning for Britain’s 2015 General E...
Where does our food come from? Top 5 food documentaries
In developed countries, an abundance of cheap, delicious food means that the biggest question many of us face is how to choose what we’d like for dinner from so many available options. But do we know where our food really com...
