IT’S MIDWAY THROUGH the week and you want to get up to speed on the latest news topics and catch up on opinions and insights.
We’re here to help you do just that, with our three midweek longreads:
The Democratic Republic of Congo is potentially one of the richest countries on earth, but it is one of the poorest thanks to colonialism, slavery and corruption. Historian Dan Snow writes about the curse of DCR’s natural wealth, and its terrible impact on the country’s people. (BBC)
Approximately 11 minutes reading time – 2274 words
I met rape victims, rebels, bloated politicians and haunted citizens of a country that has ceased to function – people who struggle to survive in a place cursed by a past that defies description, a history that will not release them from its death-like grip. The Congo’s apocalyptic present is a direct product of decisions and actions taken over the past five centuries.
San Francisco entrepreneurs are changing the US – that’s what Nathan Heller believes. In this long essay, he says that the city is home to connected kids who are creating a new face for business. Would they inspire you to change how you work? (The New Yorker)
Approximately 41 minutes reading time – 8290 words
People come to the Sub to be in the swing of things, and the things in which they’re swinging tend to reflect a blend of business and small-scale creative art. At least once a month, the Sub puts on an event to bring together creative and influential people. Possibly there’s a concert or recording session by a musician passing through town (Hwin has co-hosted Twin Shadow and Grimes at the Sub), or maybe the residents will drop their big projection screen and runned Night (an evening of ted-ish colloquy).
In his first column over on Opinion and Insight, Damien Kiberd writes about the ‘Permaslump’ which he says austerity economics have locked Ireland into. Has Ireland been turned into a ‘fiscal laboratory’? That’s the question he poses here. (TheJournal.ie)
Approximately 4 minutes reading time – 809 words
The central problem is not the fine print of the 15 October budget. The conundrum is the pressing need to improve fundamentally the climate in which Irish business operates – and to do so without a functioning credit market and apparently with less and less money in circulation.
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