Medical marijuana offers great promise but age old challenges
Like many, North Macedonia has enthusiastically embraced the potential of medical marijuana. In only three years, it has licenced 29 growers and processors. However, the failure of a planned law change highlights the issues facing the industry. A weak banking sector and over-indebted companies means its processing sector struggles to meet export standards. The new law would have allowed the export of dried cannabis flower buds and by-passed these problems but at the expense of the domestic industry.
Gold as Monetary Arbiter – Modern Monetary History
Michael Taylor looks at the evolving role of gold and how central banks have (mostly) learned that in the absence of the discipline of gold, their principal job is to protect the financial stability which alone confers value on scrip money.
My Father, Ezra Pound
An interview with Mary de Rachewiltz, daughter of Ezra Pound, from her retreat in the Italian Tyrol. “My father always managed to be on the wrong side”
In the Medina
Green is the colour of Islam, presumably because it is emblematic of paradise. Fertility in a climate of extreme heat and vast deserts cannot be taken for granted. It may seem to a believer God-given, a blessing. The surprise is how green much of Morocco seems. Even in the intense heat of Africa, there are […]
Putin’s Patriarch
The Orthodox Church is filling a political void left by the collapse of the party system in Russia. Kirill I, the Patriarch of Moscow, is forging stronger links with the Kremlin, attacking what he ominously describes as “anti-Russian” behaviour, including homosexual propaganda, the all-female pop group “Pussy Riot” and even more bizarrely the works of Lenin.
Restoring the Mosaics of San Vitale
The VI century Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna is a unique example of Byzantine art and culture. In recent times an important conservation project has restored the basilica’s mosaic wall decorations to their full glory. Livia Alberti was one of the leaders of the restoration team.
Tree of the Wooden Clogs
Robert Arnold looks back at Italian director Ermanno Olmi’s masterpiece “The Tree of Wooden Clogs” (L’Albero degli Zoccoli), winner of 14 awards including the Palme d’Or for Best film at Cannes in 1978 and the César Award in the same year for Best Foreign Film.
Travels Through Rural China
Returning to China after several years absence, Olga Jazzarelli describes the dramatic changes in China’s social, cultural and physical landscapes as she tours the Shanxi and Sichuan provinces.
Mud Brick Architecture of Yemen
Yemen has a unique architectural heritage.
The master builders and craftsmen have learnt how to build to suit geography, location, the climate and available materials.
The Reactionary Mind
Corey Robin’s new book “The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin” traces the history of conservatism from a “counter-revolutionary” force during the French Revolution up until the current disarray in the American Republican party.