Economy and business
On the high-tech path to destruction
November 2020 – Rather than humans becoming enslaved by robots, machines have become the new slave or serf class, with devastating consequences for society and the environment. We desperately need a more humane and sustainable approach to automation.
Billionaires and the welfare of nations
June 2020 – The super rich are leaving only the scraps for everyone else to fight over, which is fuelling a mounting wave of intolerance as minorities and migrants are scapegoated for falling wellbeing. For the welfare of all, we must end these stark wealth inequalities before it leads to unmanageable social unrest.
Robust health systems are society's first line of defence against pandemics
May 2020 – Belgium has long been written off as a dysfunctional and failing state, yet its response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been surprisingly functional and successful. This highlights how effective healthcare acts as society's immune system.
Economic recovery means little to Europe's working poor
December 2017 – Europe is experiencing an economic recovery but many of the jobs being created a keeping people poor rather than lifting them out of poverty.
Foreign tourists vote to thump Trump's America
October 2017 – Left without a say in the election of Donald Trump, a new breed of conscientious objectors are making their mark on the USA. Foreign tourists are voting with their feet and going elsewhere.
Sisi's fridge and Egypt's frosty economy
November 2016 – A gaffe by Egypt's president about his refrigerator reveals just how much Egyptians have cooled towards Sisi and his chilling economics.
Gamal Mubarak's get-rich-quick scheme
November 2016 – How can you make a return that is 12,000 times greater than the initial “investment” in under a decade? Ask Gamal Mubarak.
Egypt's economic paradox: Income equality v wealth inequality
June 2016 – Despite having one of the world's highest levels of income equality, Egypt's wealth gap is growing to become one of the widest. What is behind this paradox?
April 2016 – Hopes are that devaluation will resolve Egypt's dollar crisis, but the situation could spin out of control without a global currency for international trade.
January 2016 – Companies who miss the opportunity to learn from a mistake compounds it. For customers, high horses are tempting to ride, vindication is better.
Taxing questions about democracy in the Middle East
August 2015 – In the Middle East, there appears to be a link between autocracy and low taxes. Would higher taxation lead to greater representation or repression?
عن تجربة اليونان المؤلمة ودروسها لمصر
يوليو 2015 – يوجد الكثير من الدروس المستفادة لمصر من أزمة اليونان الحادة
May 2015 – Though halal sex may sound as logical as kosher bacon, it does make ts own sense. Some Muslims are utilising the concept to break the taboo around sex.
Smashing the Arab world's glass ceiling
May 2015 – Arab women are not waiting for others to empower them, they are doing it for themselves. Over 40 are on the list of the most influential young Arabs.
يونيو 2014 – قصص من أروقة العدالة المصرية تشرح لنا كيف يمنح القانون المصري الحصانة للفاسدين.
Beyond the rank and file of university education
May 2014 – With students caught between a book and a hard place in these austere times, they are resorting to new ranking tools to help decide where to study.
مواجهة الفساد والعدالة الانتقالية
ابريل 2014 – يجب تطوير تصور العدالة الاانتقالية ليشمل الجرائم الاقتصادية لان فساد نظام مبارك لا ينفصل عن ممارسات أخرى كانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان وتزوير إرادة الناخبين.
March 2014 – In just a single decade, Egypt has lost more than $20 billion in trade mispricing alone, not to mention other forms of tax evasion.
Egypt's return of the “noble” outlaws
February 2014 – Three years after a revolution against Mubarak-era cronyism, fugitive tycoons are scrambling to buy back their freedom… at knock-down prices.
August 2013 – Exit interviews are ‘in', but how trustworthy are they in today's tough market? Is it like forced confession or can it ensure knowledge transfer?
The Mubarak regime's legalised robbery
September 2012 – Since the ‘Mubarak mafia' were not outlaws but were the law, proving that Egypt's lost billions were ill-gotten is an elusively difficult challenge.
August 2012 – In an era of economic austerity, we must revive the idea of a permanent venue for the Olympics, which would also help to de-politicise the games.
July 2012 – It was the last word in music, and turned words into music. The WORD, which defied the decline in print media with wit, edge and artistry, is no more.
Social media and the end of nationalism as we know it
June 2012 – As social media strip away the space and time separating like-minded people, is the notion of “nationalism” becoming too small for us?
Robert Mugabe and ethical tourism
June 2012 – Was Robert Mugabe's appointment as UN ‘tourism ambassador' an unforgivable travesty or can ‘guilt-edged tourism' trigger reform in dictatorships?
Is Facebook sinking or swimming?
June 2012 – Like an ocean predator, if Facebook is not moving forward, it is dying. So is this big fish drowning or can it continue to swim with the tide?
Basque Country: In the eye of the financial storm
March 2012 – Although many Europeans associate it with political turmoil, the Basque Country is the only Spanish region where the economic outlooks is mild.
Greece and the euro – a Trojan tragedy
February 2012 – The Greeks are putting a new spin on the legend of Troy by snubbing the fattest gift horse they're likely to get from the weary euro club.
September 2011 – All is not well in the old world of organisational paternity, job security and economic rationality. But the silver lining is that we have millions of virtual ‘friends' to feel our pain.
August 2011 – The Arab uprisings are not just about democracy and dignity. But with domestic and global economic crises, how likely are they to deliver on bread and butter issues?
Egypt's heartless economic growth
October 2010 – Economic growth in Egypt has mainly benefited the well-off, with many of the poor falling off the tightrope of the poverty line.
Who wants to be a millionaire? I don't (know)
October 2010 – Yes, it's a famous Cole Porter song but an even better ambition for a fading socialist of the 1980s kind.
A shop window on Egyptian history
September 2010 – The buyers of Harrods are reportedly planning to take over Egypt's oldest department store, Omar Effendi, whose story mirrors Egypt's modern history.
August 2010 – Most journalists dread crunching data. But finding narratives among the numbers is part of journalism's mandate. Luckily, there are tools to help.
July 2010 – Egypt's pavillion at the Shanghai Expo 2010 misses the mark of modernity and dwells excessively on the country's ancient past.
The internet of everything and nothing?
May 2010 – Jerry Michalski, the founder of the ‘Relationship economy expedition' (REX), shares his insights on the future of the internet.
May 2010 – Fancy a beer company with your pint? For a few painful minutes, the value of many major US companies hit zero. And computers may share the blame.
May 2010 – The chair of a leading multinational claims that Europeans do not work hard enough and do not value work enough. I beg to differ.
Smoking, from sticks to carrots
May 2010 – Belgian MPs raised eyebrows with their recent banning of facial coverings. Now, with a twist, factions have set their sights on smokers and work.
April 2010 – The Egyptian government looks to overhaul its bread subsidy system, but experts warn of a possible popular backlash.
March 2010 – In South Dakota, everyone knows that the climate is just right – and that global warming is just the hot air of science.
Zero tolerance=zero difference
February 2010 – Belgian media hysteria over crime and calls for zero-tolerance policing miss the real issue – social exclusion in the inner city.
February 2010 – Big corporations are using the banking crisis as an excuse for exploiting cheap labour. Is it time for a global minimum wage?
January 2010 – Lean, green commuting machines will be the new black for Belgian fleet car managers this year.
The wealth of nations revisited
January 2010 – Natural wealth is so undervalued that countries believe they are getting richer when they are poorer. Can economists see green beyond the greenback?
October 2009 – For many Egyptians, tip-based and street jobs are their only means of survival.
Huff and puff brought the economic house down
October 2009 – How the Mr Bigs and their biglettes unwittingly brought down the world's economies – and the hotly contested prize for ‘America's worst investor'.
July 2009 – Could the disgruntled ‘baby doom' generation turn on Europe's baby boomers?
June 2009 – Despite the current crisis in the property market, the belief that buying a house is a long-term winner persists. But does the house always win? More
February 2009 – The turmoil submerging Latvia is an example of ‘drizzle-down' economics in action and has implications for the rest of Europe.
January 2009 – The economic rewards of peace are supposed to lure Israelis and Palestinians away from conflict. But what if war is its own reward?
January 2009 – Governments need to rethink their economy policies to make them more equitable and responsive to citizens' needs.
December 2008 – Immigrants in Europe are more likely to be over-qualified for the jobs or unemployed than the native population.
Preach it my brother.