US

Republican Split?

7 February 2021 If the Republican Party splits, what name should the breakaway part use? The White People’s Insurrectionary Libertarian True-Blood Republican Party (WPILTBRP), or just the Trump Party? Or maybe the hijacker-in-chief gets to keep the name of the party he stole, in which case the rump has to come up with something completely …

Republican Split? Read More »

Taiwan: War Games

25 January 2021 Most news agencies reported on Sunday that China sent large groups of fighters and bombers into the Taiwanese airspace two days in a row. Much fluttering in the dovecote: the Chinese are testing the resolve of newly installed US President Joe Biden. Considerably fewer agencies also reported that an American aircraft carrier …

Taiwan: War Games Read More »

Lucky Joe Biden

18 January 2021 Joe Biden is thrice-blessed. Not only did he win the Democratic nomination and then the presidential election, but as a result of the events of 6 January he takes office when the Republican opposition is in utter disarray and likely to stay that way for a long time. None of that was …

Lucky Joe Biden Read More »

mRNA Miracle?

18 November 2020 All the usual caveats apply: don’t go out and celebrate, don’t let your guard down, it’s still going to be a long haul. This winter will be “hard”, warned Uğur Şahin, co-founder and CEO of BioNTech, the German company that announced the first effective Covid-19 vaccine only a week ago. It can’t …

mRNA Miracle? Read More »

Four-Day Work Week

As countries in Europe and North America emerge from lock-down and start trying to rebuild their devastated economies, the great concern is jobs. Unemployment in the US and Canada is over 13%, a post-Second World War high. If it weren’t for subsidies that keep up to a fifth of the working population in paid ‘furloughs’ …

Four-Day Work Week Read More »