Governments gave 20% more in overseas aid funding to fossil fuel projects over the last two years than to programmes to cut the air pollution they cause, according to an analysis from the Clean Air Fund. Air pollution kills more people than HIV/Aids, malaria, and tuberculosis combined, but just 1% of global development aid is …
A former U.S. official doesn’t view the Afghanistan withdrawal as an ‘intelligence failure’! Sue Gordon, who served as a top U.S. intelligence official under both the Trump and Obama administrations, said Sunday that she would not characterize the American withdrawal from Afghanistan “as an intelligence failure”, despite widespread criticism about how the Trump and Biden …
Some things are almost beyond parody. Lord Frost says the government will hire an external adviser to identify post-Brexit opportunities. We have high hopes of outside input into this process,” he says. The government of the United Kingdom, almost five years after the Brexit referendum, wants help on identifying post-Brexit opportunities! The natural response to …
Continue reading ‘Verdict on Brexit – and the current British government’ »
Recently, NYC launched the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division, or “B-HEARD” program, to mobilize social workers instead of cops when responding to calls for people struggling with mental health issues. The teams respond to emergencies such as suicide attempts, substance misuse and serious mental illness. The result? More people (95%) accepted help from the …
Continue reading ‘Treating the mentally sick in a civilized manner’ »
“Zero tolerance has been a huge mistake. “Here’s a political slogan I’d get behind, “Zero tolerance for zero tolerance.” “For decades, political leaders have embraced zero-tolerance policies “as a response to all social ills: crime, drugs, sexual violations – even misbehaving schoolchildren”. In every case, the indiscriminate rigidity of this “deeply misguided approach” has backfired. …
