Cash transfers: Free money discourages work, rewards bad choices, creates a culture of dependency
Kenya’s political elite have listed cash transfers to poor households to ameliorate up to two million people pushed into financial doldrums by a dysfunctional economy, made worse by coronavirus pandemic and effects of climate change. The cash transfer proposal – bait for votes – has been well-received by the electorate...
Germ warfare: No animal host of Covid has been pinpointed, China now suspected to have lab engineered coronavirus
A lab leak in Wuhan is still thought to be the most likely origin of Covid because an animal host has not been found after two years of searching, top scientists believe. Dr Alina Chan, a specialist in gene therapy and cell engineering at MIT and Harvard, said there was...
Poverty is on decline world over, governments eager now to use science to hasten erasure of absolute want
Among the many casualties of the coronavirus pandemic are the poorest of the global poor. Not only are they the ones who are usually hit hardest by the virus, but they’ve also borne the brunt of virus-induced wreckage in the world’s economies. Before the pandemic hit the past four decades...
Poverty is on decline world over, now governments eager to use science to fast-track erasure of absolute want Among the many casualties of the coronavirus pandemic are the poorest of the global poor. Not only are they the ones who are usually hit hardest by the virus, but they’ve also...
How wonder drug Viagra accidentally became source of male happiness; targeting Alzheimer and cancers
The story of how magical pill Viagra became – accidentally – a revered source of happiness for men continues with another ‘accident’ on the horizon after scientists discovered that the Blue Pill has the potential to prevent the onset of Alzheimer by nearly 70 per cent for six years. The...
Afropessimism: There are undergraduates who feel nothing ‘is going to stop these cops from killing us’
In Afropessimism, Frank B. Wilderson III – a snarky signifying furthermucker on the page – describes a moment of extreme annoyance after a film lecture he gave in which junior partner exceptionalism figured in his narrative analysis. A distraught white female academic beseeches him, “What about solidarity between races?” Wilderson’s...
Afropessimism: You sure don’t catch hell because you’re an American; if you was an American, you wouldn’t catch no hell
Afropessimism is all the rage among millennial Black academics and activists – most notably among Black feminist critical race theorists, who themselves are now the prime targets of the MAGA crowd. Black intellectuals haven’t enjoyed this much pop currency among the right wing since Black Power took over buildings to...
Latest research findings seem to dash hopes that Covid vaccines in use can repulse Omicron variant
Early lab results suggest existing vaccines could be less effective against the fast-spreading coronavirus variant, but boosters should improve immunity. The fast-spreading Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant is highly likely to compromise some of the protection from vaccines, suggest the first laboratory studies of Omicron’s ability to evade immunity. But the preliminary...
Nairobi’s new infrastructure a classic case of how bad urban plans clash with orderly development
Orbit Chemical Industries bought the site where it located in Nairobi’s Industrial Area in 1987. The firm wanted to build a factory but was unable to, as the land was inhabited. After years of legal wrangling, Orbit Chemical says it decided, in 2008, to try to sell the land off...
Road to link airport to Nairobi’s rich neighbourhoods leaves 40,000 destitute in poor settlements
About 40,000 people have been made homeless by demolition works for a major Chinese-backed toll road in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Amnesty International Kenya says it believes the roadworks have created a humanitarian crisis, as schools, businesses and 13,000 homes spread across nearly 40 hectares (100 acres) of the Mukuru Kwa...
