Issue 5
Issue 5 brings together twelve student articles and fourteen interviews, including one with a Nobel laureate, and most ask who benefits when money meets policy. Pieces cover cheap borrowing and housing, the 2026 World Cup, the Truss mini-budget, currency shocks, crime and enforcement, and BRICS, with a few on science, philosophy, and online anger.
Strap a Rocket to the Horse
A Nobel Prize-winning physicist looks back on the circuit that stood in for an atom and tells students to keep doing their own problem sets in the age of AI.
Angry by Design
Anger is the fastest-spreading emotion online, and platforms reward it because they are paid for attention, whether or not the outrage is genuine.
The Balance Has Shifted
A former President of the UN Security Council says the West misread China's rare-earth restrictions and calls Vietnam Asia's most underestimated emerging economy.
No Magic at Eighteen
Anyone old enough to be governed is old enough to have a say, and with the bill on votes at 16 now in the House of Lords, the author sets out why.
Shivers Down the Spine
A Yale doctor and sociologist who first saw Saturn's rings as an eighth-grader says scientists owe a debt to the taxpayers who fund their work.
FIFA Won the World Cup
The 2026 World Cup broke attendance and revenue records, but the article finds that most of the money went to FIFA and little reached host cities or fans.
The Roaming Chair
A Kathmandu political sociologist looks at why Nepal's Gen Z protesters turned on all three main parties at once, and why life abroad often falls short of the dream.
The Propaganda You Don’t Notice
Propaganda works best when nobody calls it that, and a seventeen-year-old writer recommends curious, self-directed reading as the best defence.
The Lesson Banks Won’t Teach
A Bloomberg financial journalist argues that financial literacy courses blame people for poor financial results when an industry that profits from those results is responsible.
Ballot in the Brain
Brain scans link liberal and conservative attitudes to small differences in two parts of the brain, but the article warns that correlation says little about what shapes our politics.
Neither Washington Nor Beijing
An Indonesian professor explains what joining BRICS means for her country and why balancing between Washington and Beijing is a deliberate strategy.
Numbers Are Not Reality
Quantitative finance cannot forecast the future, the author claims, and the fall of Long-Term Capital Management shows that models are only as good as their assumptions.
Crypto’s Missing Floor
A Cypriot economist looks at why bitcoin lacks the floor that lets gold hold its value, and at what Cyprus learned after its banks failed in 2013.
A Demand-Side Disguise
Canada, India, and Britain all cut the cost of borrowing to make homes more affordable, yet the article shows why cheap money cannot fix a shortage of homes.
The Bank Called Partner
A Jamaican economist discusses why speedy courts deter robberies more than murders, and why many Jamaicans prefer an informal savings club to a bank.
When the Markets Said No
Liz Truss lasted seven weeks as Prime Minister, and the article traces how one unfunded mini-budget set off a bond-market panic that ended her leadership.
The Kwacha Squeeze
A falling kwacha pushes up food and fuel prices in Malawi, and access to credit decides who copes best, a Malawian economist explains.
The Chance to Build
Developing countries are losing their brightest graduates for lack of opportunities at home, the author argues, and start-ups would keep more of them than tax incentives would.
Where Is the Leisure?
Microcredit failed the very poor, and the unpaid care work of Kenyan women holds back the whole economy, according to a Nairobi economist.
Learning to Change
Education technology changes every few years and schools are slow to adapt, so the author concludes that the best systems are the ones that know what to keep.
Small Island, Big Shocks
An economist in Fiji explains why the islands' economy lurches from one crisis to the next and how AI forecasting could help a small nation plan ahead.
What the Music Is Doing
Music therapy can lower stress hormones and lift mood, the piece concludes, and it works best as a complement to other treatment.
The Price of Getting Caught
A Uruguayan economist says streetlights and jobs can cut crime more than long jail terms, because offenders rarely stop to think about getting caught.
Problem First, Money Second
Africa already has the resources and giving traditions to fund its own development, a Johannesburg professor of philanthropy argues.
Good Rules, Weak Enforcement
A Peruvian economist describes how deforestation spreads malaria and privatisation got Peru flying, and adds that good policies fail without enforcement.
Mending What Is Broken
Reading Genesis and the Psalms alongside Feuerbach, the article suggests we pray to repair what is broken, whether or not anyone is listening.