This afternoon as I looked into my phone, the news of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) surging across Europe flashed on my screen. Although I’m not one that should be even mildly worried by this prospect because I’m neither a European resident nor a sexually active person, it sowed enough caution in me.
Some like to blame dating apps and its popularity; the correlation can be hard to miss for the average reader. Some lament that shagging has become more lax with people using condoms less and less, though there is even lesser evidence to support this hypothesis. What is evident is that STIs, despite being treatable can be devastating and wreck lives if left untreated for long; women may become infertile, while syphilis can kill. To tackle the issue head on, we need more data — crucial bits like whether the infections are transmitted homosexually or heterosexually — that is best captured through strict monitoring. Men who have sex with men, migrants and sex workers, are the groups most at risk. The surge spans the entire continent from France to countries as tiny as Malta.
Malta has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this week. The latest one involves it being the hub (aka ‘tax haven’) for corporates looking to evade taxes (the NYT did a story about how Crocs leveraged its small office in Malta for tax benefits). Companies set up their ‘two-person’ headquarters in the country claiming its their base to exploit its lenient tax rules, which can fall as low as zero percentage, with the right manoeuvres. The Big Four help the companies work their way through these loopholes and seize maximum benefits. To Donald Trump pulling the USA out of the OECD’s Double Tax Treaty, things look grim for global tax administration — but yippee for the MNCs.
Since we started out with STIs and the potential correlation between the surge in dating apps and such diseases, there’s another trend that’s been on the rise: Hobbyamory. To put it short and neat, it is the phenomenon of singles retreating into themselves and developing hobbies instead of endlessly swiping and going on dates that will never work out in the first place. Well, let’s say this has more to do with the disillusionment with dating apps itself. The latter sold romantic fantasies promising that a swipe might be all it takes to change our lives. In essence, it promised fast results in an area where the idea of success itself is illusory, one that is arrived at through compromise and open-mindedness.
In truth, love is less a fantasy and more a gritty partnership. It heartens me to see that there are other people like me who would rather prefer their tactile creations coming to fruition (such as a finished sketch, clay pot or piece of writing) than seek love during times when it is not possible. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a break to recoup ourselves and bring out the best in us before we thirstily hanker after love. Give it a rest. Sometimes love is found in places where we least expect it. Alexander Pope said, “Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed,” and on reading this for the first time I remember thinking, ‘this enlightenment-era boffin is damn right!’
One longstanding hobby of mine has been to parse dense economics passages from The Economist and learn new concepts. This is my last-ditch attempt to think like an economist because it’s a job I wanted — during my whimsical teen years when my dreams had no limits — just as much as I wanted to be a journalist, editor, or football analyst (no, seriously!).
An intellectual adventure of a similar sort two days ago took me down the rabbit hole of Argentina’s peso situation. Javier Milei has been devaluing the peso to shore up exports. Logically, if we are going by the nominal exchange rate (NER) alone, this should make Argentinian products cheaper and more competitive in the global market, However, Argentina also suffers from inflation. When the rate of inflation outpaces the rate of devaluation — in other words, if domestic prices rise faster than the exchange rate adjusts, the real exchange rate (RER) appreciates. The peso becomes overvalued and paradoxically Argentinian goods become less competitive and expensive compared to its peers in the market. This puts pressure on Argentina’s paltry reserves as the central bank scrambles to sell dollars to keep the rate intact.
I came across an interesting quote by the economist Joan Robinson last week that appears in her book ‘Economic Philosophy’’. It says, “the misery of being exploited by capitalists is nothing compared to the misery of not being exploited at all.” At first glance, it looks provocative — and indeed it’s been intended to be one. A Redditor described it as “something a capitalist would say.”
For starters, Robinson was a devoted adherent of Keynesian economics who became one of the leaders of post-Keynesian economic thought. The quote highlights a painful reality of life and survival: sometimes having a low-paid job is still better than not having a job. Because it still brings income, howsoever little. Even when the capitalist tries to extract surplus value, it must employ people, invest in infrastructure, and generate output, all of which inevitably raises material living standards even though it was not the capitalist’s primary motive. In short, Robinson implies that in our imperfect economic system being employed is still better than not being employed at all. Her quote was a dry, sardonic way to put it even though it may seem like it is coming from an unlikely place.
There are many things to admire and romanticise about Japan, from Washi tapes to glass toilets — and one that makes the list this week is its disaster preparedness. Twin earthquakes of a dangerous magnitude ravaged Kumamoto a decade ago, destroying thousands of buildings and killing hundreds. But the disaster also became an important learning point that changed how the Japanese responded to future disasters of a similar scale. We saw the latest exemplification of this in Kyushu, where the estimated casualties were significantly low at 38. Earthquake-proof infrastructure helped build this resilience. As the number of earthquakes keeps mounting across the globe (just this morning I woke up to the news of a 5.3-magnitude one rocking western Colombia), it would help governments to take a leaf out of Japan’s playbook.
Lastly, I wish to broach a subject that has vexed me for the past few months: the purported relationship between Islamism and Nazism. The discussion took a turn for the worst with the publication of the 2014 book, ‘Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East.’ The book alleged a shared synchrony between the goals and ideologies of the Islamists and Nazis, citing their shared opposition to British and French colonialism and hostility towards Jews, by drawing heavily on Amin al-Husseini’s rhetoric. Nearly all of these points can be disputed with facts: for one, the antagonism towards Jewish state (not ‘Jews’ as a category) is more a territorial issue than a religious one. Unlike the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, al-Husseini, who drew an equivalence between Nazism and Islamism, the general discourse in the Arab world at the time was critical of Nazi methodologies. While it is true that the Nazis ran propaganda to whip up anti-Jewish sentiment in the MENA, the impact of Mufti’s ideas on Nazi policies are exaggerated. The book understandably elicited mixed reactions, with some scholars expressing concerns over its speculative aspects and skewed focus.
The Unsaturated Reader 
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