Despite marquee signings, EPL hivemind verdict is: Arteta will be Arteta and Arsenal will be Arsenal
The pre-season hivemind has Arsenal as the weakest of the Big Six and that’s mainly a judgement on Mikel Arteta. It’s not a perfect system, but I’ve always enjoyed perusing pre-season odds as a way of gauging expectations for the season. Sure, Liverpool and Manchester United will always be a...
Why young Americans are against ‘geriatric oligarchy’ of politicians who ‘stay in office way past their prime’
As he campaigns for a Manhattan congressional seat against fellow Democrats twice his age, 38-year-old Suraj Patel harnesses the frustration of his generation toward those who have held office for decades. In his telling, Representatives Jerry Nadler, 75, and Carolyn Maloney, 76, are part of a crop of Democrats who...
Cristiano Ronaldo: From hot cake to unwanted brand, iconic player may have overstayed his welcome
Cristiano Ronaldo is all about the mythology building. It’s explicit in that relentless demand for betterment and in the endless chase for records and trophies. This has always been a player who’s given the impression of having one eye on his legacy. He never just wanted to be the greatest....
He’s not at sell-by date, why Arsenal loan returnee Saliba has Gunners’ fans cooing over the centre-back
Living in the north, we largely have to judge Arsenal fans on what we see on Twitter. And that leaves us with the impression that Arsenal fans are fickle, prone to extremes of giddiness and glumness, argumentative and entirely split on whether Mikel Arteta and his process should be trusted...
Presidential candidate who promises to legalise cannabis, export snakes is stealing the show in Kenya
Less than three weeks before Kenya holds a presidential election, analysts say the unexpected, growing popularity of one candidate could deliver some unpredictability to the outcome. George Wajackoyah ranks a distant third behind front-runners Raila Odinga and William Ruto. But according to one poll, his platform to legalise marijuana and...
Cameroon’s war economy: ‘This is no longer a struggle for the common man, but an economic venture’
Five years into a deadly separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, hopes of finding a negotiated settlement seem more distant than ever as both the government and secessionist rebels dig in, according to civil society activists. It’s a conflict marked by spikes of extreme violence that invariably target civilians. The...
Violence against women: Media and researchers should stop revelling in calling South Africa ‘rape capital’
Researchers and journalists in South Africa tend to portray sexual violence as an ever-worsening crisis, focusing on either the latest police statistics or the most violent and horrific recent incidents. Since the late 1970s, the media has displayed a near obsession with reporting rape numbers and gruesome case details. The...
Milestone as US Marines get first Black four-star general after 246 years; to head Africa Command
In the late 1980s, Maj Ronald Bailey met a young Marine he knew had promise. Michael E. Langley was a powerlifter who dominated flag football games, an intellectual who set records for how many training courses he wrote and a problem-solver whose bosses frequently tapped him to mediate workplace disputes....
South Africa loses 5,000 licensed firearms every year, now mass shootings have become too common
In just two days in early July, 25 people were shot dead in four separate incidents at taverns across South Africa. In one of these shootings, in Soweto, 16 people lost their lives. The killings made international headlines and were shocking even in South Africa, a society with one of...
How Uganda’s despised ‘mini-Musevenis’ are the ‘eyes and ears’ that sustain ruling clique in power
Kampala, Uganda – When Ugandans next head to the polls in 2026, President Yoweri Museveni will have been at the helm for exactly 40 years. In the capital Kampala, renewed talk of a political transition is a now trending. For years, there have even been multiple reports about a succession...
