EUREKA. No, not what you think. Here it stands for European Union, Russia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Alaska. A symbolic, rather than literal, collection of disparate countries with but a single purpose. Almost anyone can join. ‘Not limited to’ as the lawyers would say. But it’s a big ‘almost’. In fact, the biggest of them all. Are…
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If you haven’t got democracy, it’s likely that you’ll want it. If you are under 30, it’s a racing certainty. The protests in Russia and Hong Kong are only the tip of the iceberg. The populist votes at general elections precipitating people like Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and Rodrigo Duterte to power are another way…
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It is now clear, as far as press report and comment allow, that the two Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that crashed did so because of a faulty system that was not duplicated and that was inadequately warned to pilots. The investigation of these tragic crashes will continue, I imagine , for a long time. Comment…
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Will those living in Britain be wealthier for Brexit? No, they will be poorer. Much poorer short-term, marginally poorer long-term. Will Britain be safer from external threats for Brexit? No, Britain cannot maintain the armed forces necessary to defend itself. Will Britain be a more cohesive, less unbalanced society for Brexit? No, it will become…
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In my mid-years I was asked by a lady whose husband had died how I would describe the ideal man to take on the work she felt she couldn’t do on her newly purchased farm. She was fit and healthy, forty years old and had practical experience as well as a degree in agriculture. There…
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You’ve been busy… Possibly on holiday. So we are taking a ‘roost’ today (not quite a day of rest, you see) to give you a chance to catch up with any Daily Paradox articles you may have missed. “Every one a gem…” Readers Here are the last ten. Just click on the title: A virtuous…
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Some accidents have good consequences. The accidents that stopped me farming, made me become a city boy and precipitated me into Singapore in my mid-forties didn’t always seem like good accidents. The consequences were very good and I am eternally grateful for that. And to the people who made up those consequences. All good fortune…
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The UN’s Singapore Convention on Mediation is being signed in Singapore today. Although it only covers commercial disputes it marks another step in the right direction of raising the number of disputes solved by a method which often seems like magic. It isn’t that. It is common sense, a rare and somewhat magical process. We…
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It is difficult to imagine what President Xi is learning from the Hong Kong riots. That he is learning something is without question. He is from the genre of Mao and Deng Xiaoping. Deng was associated with brutal suppression in Tiananmen Square. President Xi must be wary of using military force to suppress the Hong…
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