Edward Chancellor, financial historian, on the global response to COVID-19

12th November 2021

In April of this year, I sat down to interview Edward Chancellor, who offered me his view on the response to COVID-19 as a financial historian, which challenged more mainstream ideas around lockdown. As I sat at my desk to discuss the topic (the interview was conducted via Zoom, of course), Chancellor’s ideas around the influence of behavioural psychology on the global reaction, stood out to me. In drawing parallels between the disease cycle and financial cycle, Chancellor touches on crowd behaviour and cognitive dissonance to explain the reaction to COVID-19, and why extrapolation errors are so dangerous. We also discussed Johnson’s government’s imitative behaviour, and the importance of truth-seeking.

Edward Chancellor, financial historian, on the global response to COVID-19

Proud of my Heritage

12th November 2021

Following on from the ‘Proud to Be’ assembly, I would like to share with you and inform you on my Zimbabwean heritage. Zimbabwe is a country in the South of Africa typically known for its beautiful landscape and wildlife. The main languages spoken in Zimbabwe are English, Shona and Ndebele but there are 16 different official Zimbabwean languages. The name “Zimbabwe” itself, stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city named Masvingo whose remains are now a protected site in Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwe” derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as “houses of stones”.

Proud of my Heritage

Dune: Part One Review

12th November 2021

As a fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy, I am very used to disappointing adaptations: whether it’s The Hobbit stretched over too many films, or whatever the original Northern Lights film had going on, it’s uniformly quite bad. However, every once in a while, a film actually lives up to how much I loved the book, and Dune is that film.

Dune: Part One Review

Is education the most powerful weapon we have for changing the world?

4th November 2021

In his address to the UN Security Council on 23rd February 2021, David Attenborough articulated the threat currently faced by humanity: “If we continue on our current path, we will face the collapse of everything that gives us our security…Climate change is the biggest threat to security that modern humans have ever faced.” According to Attenborough, food production, access to fresh water, habitable ambient temperature and ocean food chains are all at stake, the most basic of human needs. If ever humanity needed a weapon for changing the world, it is now. In the face of these challenges, it is difficult to conceive of a more powerful tool than education. It can leverage women’s concern for the environment, provide them with more life choices and develop technologies to plug the gaps left by an aging population. While education has a wealth of other benefits, mentioned are the central themes I will explore further in this essay, starting with the role of female education in driving the climate agenda.

Is education the most powerful weapon we have for changing the world?