As the furore over Mumbai resolves into Indian rage towards Pakistan, it is worth taking a step back to look at what the tensions between these countries are about. Traditional explanations centre around partition, and about the holy status of Kashmir in the Hindu imaginary as a place of heaven, portrayed as a form of [...]
Category Archives: food
Human capital is only useful if you don't break the bank
November 16, 2008 – 11:30 pm
The mantra of the Third Way seems to be about “capabilities”. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband pontificated in The New Statesman that this it is about creating an “I can” society. But what exactly is the point of all this? Coming from a Development background, it took me a while to realise that all politics, [...]
Wobbly fruit is OK again
November 15, 2008 – 12:00 am
Over 20 years ago Brussels had decreed that henceforth fruit and vegetables needed to comply with ideal standards of shape, size and colour. Vegetable eugenics was a boon to Europhobes, supermarket buyers and agrochemical manufacturers alike. It accelerated the demise of smaller arable farms and prompted a growth spurt in plastic cloches, despite the best [...]