Articles

Can the trend to remote work spurred by the pandemic be associated with lower greenhouse-gas emissions? It depends. Selen Uncular* The pandemic required many people around the world, except essential workers, such as in health, transport, care and nutrition, to work remotely and maintain social distance to prevent the spread …

Following dialogues with people in poverty around the world, the author presents a report to the UN General Assembly on the persistence of poverty. Olivier De Schutter* “Poor children are deprived of their childhoods”, said a woman from a marginalised neighbourhood in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in a dialogue organised …

With the whistle blown on Facebook, Congress must allocate ownership of personal data to the person, not the platform, to allow competitive providers to emerge. Piergiuseppe Fortunato* According to its former employee, Frances Haugen, Facebook algorithms consciously amplify dangerous misinformation and privilege the most divisive content posted on the network. …

James Zogby* When Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the country’s prime minister and closed the Parliament, he said he was doing so to “restore social peace…and save the state.” Saied was addressing a series of crises that had been plaguing what many viewed as the one “Arab Spring” success story. …

So little appears at stake in the Northern Ireland protocol yet it’s at the heart of the Brexit deadlock. But then it’s a proxy for something else. Robin Wilson* One of Belfast’s main hotels is called the Europa. It has a classic, pillared frontage—the previous, modernist version was turned into …

James Zogby* 25 years after I wrote my memo to Clinton, we have arrived at this sorry state of affairs. Israel, acting with impunity born of the neglect of Palestinian rights and the enabling hand of successive US presidents and Congresses A quarter century ago, when the two-state solution was …

Unregulated capitalism has always tended to monopoly. But Big Tech represents a challenge antitrust tool can’t tame. Cédric Durand and Cecilia Rikap* Scientia potentia est—knowledge is power. The old adage has acquired a sinister connotation with the alarming dominance of Big Tech in the economy and society as a whole. …

Despite petrol shortages and empty shelves, Labour is adrift—and Johnson may press the Northern Ireland protocol nuclear button. Paul Mason* At my local petrol station, a cadre of young men have suddenly appeared, in high-visibility jackets, to instruct car drivers in the fine art of the jammed-nose-to-tail refill. Each pump …

Discussing the possibility of drought in the Arab world. James Zogby* A recent report published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) highlights the growing threat posed by the water crisis and drought affecting the future of millions of Arabs across the Middle East. It is …

Illusions about the UK’s special relationship with the United States and a supposedly painless Brexit have been shed. The inability of Boris Johnson’s government to face up to that makes it impossible to define a new role for Britain in the world. Peter Kellner* Nobody with the slightest humanity could …