Yearly Archives: 2017

Many terrifying diseases have long afflicted humans in the warm, wet places of the world. Evidence of some of them is found in mummified Egyptians; others are recorded in the Bible and the Talmud, and the writings of ancient scholars … Continue reading →

THE ECONOMY Economist May 4th 2017 Coffee trees loom over a village in the hills above Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. Though their fruit has provided income for decades, Alarico Soares De Cruz, the local headman, says the pickings are … Continue reading →

Let it not become paradise lost – Why the tiny islands are a focus of geopolitics Economist Nov 28th 2015 The Maldives: Islamic Republic, Tropical Autocracy. By J.J. Robinson. Hurst; 336 pages; £16.99. Troubled paradises dot the tropics. Equatorial Guinea, … Continue reading →

A hopeful Aga saga – In the poorest bit of the former Soviet Union they look to a leader of yore Economist Aug 20th 2016 The region of Badakhshan, which covers most of the eastern half of Tajikistan but hosts … Continue reading →

Superscript – The country celebrates an ingenious writing system Economist Oct 10th 2015 “Like trying to fit a square handle into a round hole” is how Sejong the Great, a Korean king, viewed the practice of using hanja, classical Chinese … Continue reading →

Peeved in Punjab Economist Nov 28th 2015 The Sikh religion provides for a gathering of believers, the Sarbat Khalsa, in times of great crisis. It was convened regularly in the 18th century, when the Mughal empire was trying to exterminate … Continue reading →

National Geographic. The June, July, and August issues of NG each look at a shark species with notorious reputations. Vital to the seas, they are not as scary as you might think. After the movie Jaws came out in the … Continue reading →

Politics has not kept pace with social change Economist May 4th 2017 Last year millions of South Koreans took to the streets to secure the impeachment of Park Geun-hye, their conservative president. She is now behind bars; her trial, on … Continue reading →

Far from bolstering generosity, a religious upbringing diminishes it Economist Nov 7th 2015 An argument often advanced for the encouragement of religion is that, to paraphrase St Matthew’s report of Jesus’s words, it leads people to love their neighbours as … Continue reading →

Even with insurance, American medical care can be ruinous Economist Apr 22nd 2017 Although Donald Trump occasionally pokes it in the ribs, the fight seems to have gone out of the Republican effort to reform America’s health-care system. That is … Continue reading →