James Freeman, University of Bristol
Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister comes to an end next week, giving us all a chance to consider what his legacy will be. More than his predecessors, Johnson owed his premiership to his reputed ability to persuade audiences other Conservatives couldn’t, through his charisma, unpredictability and energetic campaigning.
By Laurie Goering
LONDON, Aug 31 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A third of Pakistan is underwater, with at least 1,100 people dead – including 380 children – but monsoon rains “on steroids”, likely fuelled by climate change, are not the only cause of the nation’s misery.
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In the early 1990s, Senator Patrick Moynihan campaigned for the abolition of the CIA. The brilliant campaigner thought the US Department of State should take over its intelligence functions. For him, the age of secrecy was over.
In a New York Times opinion piece, Moynihan wrote:
By Carey L. Biron
WASHINGTON, Aug 22 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Toledo experienced a spike in gun violence, the Ohio city police force turned to a simple if controversial tool: it miked up part of the city to capture the sound of gunfire.
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By Anya Schiffrin, director of the Technology, Media and Communications specialization at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
When worries about online mis/disinformation became widespread after the 2016 U.S. election, there was hope that the tech giants would use artificial intelligence (AI) to fix the mess they created. The hope was that platforms could use AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to automatically block or downrank false. illegal or inflammatory content online without governments having to regulate.
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MasterClass, the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best across a wide range of subjects, today announced the launch of a class on diplomacy with two former U.S. secretaries of state—Condoleezza Rice and the late Madeleine Albright. In their class, Albright and Rice provide members with lessons they learned as secretaries of state, including how to build trusted teams, reconcile differences, overcome failed decisions and apply diplomacy in everyday life. Albright and Rice’s class is part of the “MasterClass Presents the White House” series and now available exclusively on MasterClass, where subscribers get unlimited access to all 150+ instructors with an annual membership. Continue reading
Clark D. Cunningham, Georgia State University
The FBI’s raid of former President Donald Trump’s estate on Aug. 8, 2022, caught Trump by surprise – and prompted immediate speculation about exactly why and how the law enforcement agency secured a search warrant.
“My beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents. … They even broke into my safe!” Trump said in a statement released through his political action committee, Save America.
Paul Whiteley, University of Essex
A YouGov poll of party members completed on August 2 shows Rishi Sunak to be trailing Liz Truss 31% to 69% in the Conservative leadership contest. A similar poll completed on July 21 had him on 38% to her 62%. She appears to be winning the contest hands down.
Nic Cheeseman, University of Birmingham and Petra Alderman, University of Birmingham
More elections are being held than ever – but the number of questionable polls being held around the world is fuelling fears of a “global democratic recession”, whereby the will of the people is not reflected in the results being announced. Two countries with elections coming up in the next few days and months, where opposition parties or international bodies are worried the process will not be fair, are Kenya, which goes to the polls on August 8, and Brazil, which votes on October 2.
Ali Iqbal, McMaster University and Aliya Khan, McMaster University
Organ transplantation is a life-saving therapy for millions of patients and one of the greatest successes of modern medicine. However, a limited supply of donor organs, paired with a massive demand for transplants, has fuelled the global organ trafficking industry which exploits poor, underprivileged and persecuted members of society as a source of organs to be purchased by wealthy transplant tourists.