ISSUE 10
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- Interviews with: Jimmy Wales, Stefan Ingves, Hugh Masekela, Donald Ramotar, Kumi Naidoo, Vince Cable
- Banking: the crisis explained, Islamic banking
- Connecting Cultures: technology, education, broadcasting and sport
- New Zealand: recovery in Christchurch
- Uganda: prospects for reform
- Guyana: the resource curse
EDITORIAL:
The interconnectedness of all things
ELISSA JOBSON
Soaring budget deficits, weak economic growth, falling property prices, rising unemployment, and government cuts; the consequences of the 2007/8 banking crisis are evident for all to see. A wholesale collapse of the banking system was averted, thanks to government bailouts and the nationalisation of banks, but the crisis rumbles on...
GLOBAL INSIGHT: BANKING
“Light touch regulation does not work. Strong rules are needed”
STEFAN INGVES
In July last year, Stefan Ingves, governor of the central bank of Sweden, took over...
When credit imploded
GEORGE MAGNUS
The global banking crisis has sent Western economies into the financial abyss. The man widely...
“Islamic financial transactions must be both lawful and ethical”
JASEEM AHMED
Jaseem Ahmed was appointed secretary-general of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in May last...
Joining the mainstream
ZUBAIR IQBAL
While the Islamic banking sector has seen impressive growth since first coming on the scene...
GLOBAL INSIGHT: CONNECTING CULTURES
“People want high quality, neutral information”
JIMMY WALES
The Internet has fuelled the process of globalisation, connecting people across oceans and continents, turning...
A world in your ear
JOHN MCCARTHY
As the BBC World Service reaches the grand old age of 80, John McCarthy explores...
Give peace a sporting chance
PROFESSOR TOM WOODHOUSE
In much the same way as music, sport has a level of influence and reach...
A cultural exchange
DR KHALID KOSER
Around one in 35 people in the world today are migrants. While their presence can...
Education: a proven path to peace
PROFESSOR ASHA KANWAR
Education plays a vital role in expanding understanding between and among diverse groups. “The biggest...
Tune in to connect
SALLY-ANN WILSON
Radio and television have allowed people around the world to share momentous global events from...
Digital switchover – the search for a broader spectrum
Signals are essential for data delivery. Since the 1800s, analogue signals have been transmitted via...
SPOTLIGHT: NEW ZEALAND
Re:STARTing the recovery
CHRIS PRITCHARD
Last February’s devastating earthquake exacted a heavy toll on the picturesque city of Christchurch. But...
New Zealand: Selling out?
TIM WATKIN
The government’s plan to sell shares in four state-owned power companies and the national airline...
Tourism cleans up
CHRIS PRITCHARD
New Zealand has long capitalised on its clean-and-green image. But last year, it drew in...
Kiwi economy takes a flight of fancy
PETER GRIFFIN
The New Zealand government and businesses alike will have to invest heavily in research and...
We need to talk about death
GERALDINE JOHNS
Advances in medical technology and the rise in secularity are increasing our anxieties about dying....
GLOBAL ARENA: TALKING POINTS
“Climate change is not solely an environmental issue”
KUMI NAIDOO
In June last year, Kumi Naidoo spent four days in a prison in Greenland for...
“Music invaded me. It’s been my obsession, my whole life and it still is”
HUGH RAMOPOLO MASEKELA
At a recent sell-out concert in London, Hugh Masekela demonstrated that he can still move...
The WTO needed now more than ever
PRADEEP S. MEHTA
WTO approval of new measures in favour of the least developed countries has shown a...
Getting serious about climate change
KENNEDY ABWAO
Consensus has crystallised around an urgent need to create a world environment organisation (WEO) to...
Fidel Castro’s speech to the Rio Earth Summit, 1992
An important biological species – humankind – is at risk of disappearing due to the...
Rio 1992 – high hopes dashed
Helicopters thundered up and down Copacabana, Ipanema and the other beaches. Tanks guarded the bridges...
Whales are better “seen and not hurt”
PATRICK RAMAGE
For 26 years, three countries – Japan, Iceland and Norway – have continued to hunt...
Books – recent titles reviewed
How China sees its own history The Scramble for China: Foreign Devils in the Qing...
IN FOCUS: GUYANA
“I am aware of the ‘resource curse’”
DONALD RAMOTAR
A long overdue economic transformation is just beginning to take hold in this resource-rich but...
Guyana: Minority government’s difficult choices
SIR RONALD SANDERS
The combined opposition parties’ power to outvote Guyana’s new government on crucial issues has created...
The allure of new riches
SIR RONALD SANDERS
Recent foreign investment in Guyana’s oil, gas and large-scale gold mining industries are heralding a...
Culture: the best bet for unity
ALLAN A. FENTY
Despite obvious differences, there are common strands of language, music, food and behaviour that have...
IN FOCUS: UGANDA
Uganda: “The people will assert themselves”
DR WARREN KIZZA BESIGYE
Standing in last year’s election for the third time against President Yoweri Museveni, Kizza Besigye...
Short-term risks to long-term growth
JEFFERY MBANGA
Over the past 15 years, the Ugandan economy has set an enviable growth record, but...
Mobile phone: veni vidi vici
EVA LUBWAMA
Ugandans have been in love with the “little monsters” ever since they showed up. Despite...
Pressure builds for change
BENON HERBERT OLUKA
In the face of mounting demands for change, President Yoweri Museveni and his supporters have...
Ready for a flush of oil wealth
JEFFERY MBANGA
After two years of debate over the ground rules, President Yoweri Museveni’s government has at...
Tired of walking to work
EVA LUBWAMA
In their recent demonstrations, opposition politicians may have walked to work but can they put...
A more youthful style of politics
Uganda’s younger politicians are getting into their stride. The country’s ninth parliament, voted into office...
COMMONWEALTH NETWORK: COMMONWEALTH IN ACTION
From the Commonwealth Secretary-General
KAMALESH SHARMA
Diversity, along with democracy and development, is one of the three ‘Ds’ that guide us...
“We laid the foundations for a quarter of a century of climate change policy”
VINCE CABLE MP
Recalling his seven years as Special Advisor on Economic Affairs to the Commonwealth Secretary-General, Vince...
Solid foundations and new horizons
VIJAY KRISHNARAYAN
Newly appointed Director of the Commonwealth Foundation, Vijay Krishnarayan, is looking to engage civil society...
Reporting back from the front lines
RITA PAYNE
Malta played host to the ninth conference of the Commonwealth Journalists Association where delegates gathered...
The global challenge of green growth
JANET STRACHAN
With an understanding of, and appreciation for, the fundamental groundwork of environmental policy forged over...
A day of jubilant observation
ASHLEY JOHNSON
This year, Commonwealth Day and festivities for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee coincided in the annual...
Real stories, honestly told
JESSICA MURPHY
Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie believes in the power of literature to reveal our common humanity,...
Cultivating a climate of change
STUART MOLE
On the eve of the Rio+20 Earth Summit, Stuart Mole revisits the Commonwealth’s groundbreaking 1989...
The Commonwealth Nurses Federation
The Commonwealth Nurses Federation (CNF) was established in 1973 with the aim of contributing to...
Painting culture into the political picture
MARCIE SHAOUL
Recognising the importance of culture and the arts in developmental policy, the Commonwealth Foundation is...
Questions & Answers
ZARA MCFARLANE
British jazz singer Zara McFarlane recently released her debut album, Until Tomorrow, to critical acclaim....
Counting on accountability
ANDREW TUGGEY
Public accounts committees are an essential tool for ensuring rigorous financial transparency within governments, but...
Rewarding excellence
Focusing on the future of the modern Commonwealth and its core values, a new series...
Key events and meetings
PETRA COOKE
Collaborating on human rights The Commonwealth is working with the International Committee of the Red...
Elections promised in Papua New Guinea
The political deadlock in Papua New Guinea (PNG) continues after Prime Minister Peter O’Neill refused...
Elections in Fiji to be held in 2014
Commodore Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, Fiji’s military chief, has promised to hold general elections by...
Discovering the Queen’s digital realm
A year after its launch, the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Jubilee Time Capsule contains thousands of...
Iwokrama: a place of refuge
The desire to ‘walk the walk’ inspired Desmond Hoyte, then president of Guyana, to present...
Nursing development and opportunity
JILL ILIFFE
Since 1973, the Commonwealth Nurses Federation has worked tirelessly to improve health care around the...
Prince Harry tours the Caribbean as Jamaica debates republic option
At the beginning of March, Prince Harry toured the Caribbean Commonwealth on behalf of his...
Samoa jumps the Date Line
After a year consisting of only 364 days, Samoa leapt into the future at the...
Third time lucky for Zambia
In February, Zambia won its first Africa Cup of Nations title, defeating Ivory Coast, three-time...
The curse of Kedah’s jewel
The 104 islands of the beautiful Langkawi archipelago, set in the Andaman Sea, are a...
