@wwaycorrigan In a recent episode of The Colombia Cast podcast, the eminent economist and political scientist James Robinson, co-author of the influential Why Nations Fail, restated his view that geography plays no part in the economic development of countries. Looking at it from an Americas perspective from the time Europeans arrived on these shores, that […]
@wwaycorrigan As much as some may wish it wasn’t so, the person — nay man as it has been and looks set to be for at least another four years — calling the shots in the White House exerts global significance. So while there will be those outside the USA, and even a small number […]
@wwaycorrigan A few weeks ago on CNÑ (CNN in Spanish that is), in a discussion about social media, an Argentinian expert on the subject predicted that in years to come we’ll view our use of Facebook and the like in the same way that most of us view smoking today. That is,...
@wwaycorrigan Back in my early secondary school days, as a country lad heading off to mix it with the townies, it was common for the latter to mock us. We were farmer boys, or rednecks, as they say in some parts. It was generally a bit of innocent slagging but no doubt it had its […]
@wwaycorrigan There is an expression we use in Ireland to describe those who put themselves before everybody else. We call them ‘mé féiners’, putting an English ending to two Irish-language words, ‘mé féin’, meaning ‘myself’. Basically, you could say these are a type of fundamentalist individualist. ‘The greater good for the greater number’ only comes […]
@wwaycorrigan These seem to be especially frightening times we’re living in. One could be forgiven for thinking things have an ‘end of days’ feel to them. The global political picture seems as divided as ever. Well you could argue it’s similar to Europe in the 1930s, so we’ve been here before, with people finding comfort […]
@wwaycorrigan After almost seven years of having Bogotá as the base, the greatest ‘achievement’ — let’s not get caught up in the semantics here — has been my assimilation to the working-class Bogotá barrio life. While many locals with aspirations to...
@radiobrendan Many people still don’t seem to get it. Or they wish it wasn’t so in any case. Basically, a significant reason US President Donald Trump proved to be — and still proves — popular across Middle America, away from the east and west coast echo chambers...
@radiobrendan In previous posts I wrote about, or at least mentioned in passing, the visa issues I had in Colombia this year. Indeed, the chief reason for my recent visit to Venezuela was down to being unable to renew my ‘independent journalist’ visa. (I am somewhat...
@wwaycorrigan During my recent 16-day visit to Venezuela I had a host of people asking me «What’s it like ‘for real’?» I’m still getting asked that since my return. Via an article in The Irish Times I did touch on a number of the everyday issues that...
