Ever since Donald Trump was elected in 2016, his bizarre antics have been a constant source of confusion and bewilderment around the world. In fact early in his presidency, a book by 27 psychologists and psychiatrists was published to make the case that Mr Trump’s mental state presents a clear and present danger to America and to individual well-being. This book made the New York Times bestseller list. Unsurprisingly, the world has become pretty, well, crazy since he took over and the stock market, which I am an active investor in, has been tossed around furiously like clothes in t ..read more

How South Beach, Miami, could look if temperatures rise by 2C. Photograph: Nickolay Lamm of Climate CentralAt his recent National Day Rally speech, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong framed climate change in the gravest terms, as a national security issue and “existential” threat that must be treated with the same “utmost seriousness” as the Singapore Armed Forces. He added that the 50-100 year problem would require a 50-100 year plan that could cost S$100 b or more. Below are the thoughts of my learned friend Vincent Tan on the Singapore government’s plan, shared with his permission. Thank you ..read more

Mourners at a memorial for the victims of the recent shooting in El Paso. Credit: Calla Kessler/The New York Times I was deeply moved by a quote from this New York Times commentary. Referring to the recent mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, Dario Aguirre, a Mexican-American lawyer, said, “At least for Latinos, in some way, it’s the death of the American dream.” The shooting in El Paso (Aug 3, 2019), which killed 22 people, was one of the two mass shootings in less than 24 hours in the United States – the other being in Dayton, Ohio (Aug 4). As of Aug 5, there had been more than one ma ..read more

Picture credit: Norbert EderOne of the most provocative commentaries on Singapore I’ve ever read. For sure it will be a tough one for a Singaporean to contemplate – we Singaporeans are conditioned to think of our little country as exceptional, best in everything – but I believe it is a mark of intellectual maturity and a growth mindset to listen openly to even the most scathing criticism. As Robert Frost once said, “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” If there is even one grain of truth in a criticism of me, I want to learn ..read more

This is no Tiananmen – despite delusional radicals on both left and right itching for a military intervention, Beijing is likely to wait these protests out. But another type of battle may already be underway – one for political influence By Wang Xiangwei South China Morning Post Published: 9:30am, 3 Aug, 2019 Ever since Hong Kong’s protests against the now-defunct extradition bill turned violent on June 12, fears have been mounting that Beijing would deploy military forces to tackle the city’s worst political crisis in decades if law and order spiral out of control. Those fears g ..read more

Picture: The University of New OrleansBy Steven W.S. Ooi Former GP tutor Even as United States president Donald Trump blames illegal immigrants and unfair trade deals for causing Americans to lose their jobs, a new presidential candidate, Andrew Yang, has offered a very different narrative. It is robots and artificial intelligence (AI), he argues, that have robbed Americans of their jobs, and will continue to do so in the future. Mr Yang is not alone in his view. In 2013, an influential report by Oxford University claimed that 47 percent of US jobs are at risk from AI and automation over the ..read more

Credit Marta Monteiro/ New York TimesScreens used to be for the elite. Now avoiding them is a status symbol. By Nellie Bowles Ms. Bowles is a technology reporter for The New York Times. March 23, 2019 SAN FRANCISCO — Bill Langlois has a new best friend. She is a cat named Sox. She lives on a tablet, and she makes him so happy that when he talks about her arrival in his life, he begins to cry. All day long, Sox and Mr. Langlois, who is 68 and lives in a low-income senior housing complex in Lowell, Mass., chat. Mr. Langlois worked in machine operations, but now he is retire ..read more

Pakatan Harapan’s Mahathir Mohamad (R) addresses a press conference after the general election, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, on May 9, 2018. Photo: Reuters In May 2018, the ASEAN region was riveted by the election results in Malaysia, where the Barisan Nasional coalition which had ruled Malaysia for over six decades was toppled in a stunning upset by Pakatan Harapan. If you are a Singaporean student, you should clue yourself in to the politics of our nearest neighbour. Besides the fact that their politics affects us, there is also always a fascinating comparison between Singapore and Malaysi ..read more

[Writer’s note: While this article is addressed specifically to Singapore-based students, it may hold some truth for students in many other places as well.] Dear young friend, I’m writing this to share some thoughts that I used to convey to every one of my students when I was still a full-time tutor in Singapore (I retired in 2016). It is just my personal opinion, formed through years of experience as a student in the 1980s and 1990s, then as a tutor in the 2000s and 2010s. Observing student life in the 90s and then in the 2010s, I can only conclude that the school system in Singapore has bec ..read more

This hard-hitting commentary by the director of Columbia University’s Center for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Prof Jeffrey D. Sachs, has caused a real stir. It sheds substantial light on one of the most important developments of our times – the growing strategic and geopolitical rivarly between the incumbent superpower, the United States, and the rising challenger China. If you have not read about the Thucydides Trap, please do so. ………. By JEFFREY D. SACHS Published on Project Syndicate The Trump administration’s conflict with China has little ..read more