Brian Beedham, foreign editor of The Economist for a quarter of a century, died this week, aged 87 F or nearly all the 25 years leading up to the collapse of communism in 1989, two intellects dominated the pages of The Econ- omist. They were Norman Macrae, as dep- uty editor, and Brian Beedham, as foreign editor. Their marks were influential, endur- ing-and quite different. Norman, who died in 2010, relished iconoclasm, and orig- inal ideas sprang like a fountain from his ef- fervescent mind. Brian, bearded, tweed- jacketed and pipe-smoking (or pipe-pok- ing), held ideas that were more considered. It was he who provided the paper’s atti- tude to the post-war world. In that world, nothing was as important as seeing off communism, which in turn could be achieved only by the unyielding exercise of American strength. This view was not in itself unusual. What made it re- markable, and formidable, were the clarity, elegance and intellectual power with which it was propounded. No issue demanded the exercise of these qualities more than the Vietnam war, and probably none caused Brian more an- guish. A man of great kindness, and with- out a hint of vanity or pretension, he was far from being either a heartless ideologue or a primitive anti-communist (though he never visited either Russia or Vietnam to put his opinions to the test). But his unwa- vering defence of American policy drew criticism from both colleagues and readers. Why did he persist in pounding such a lonely trail, even after it had become clear that the American venture in South-East Asia was doomed? The short answer was conviction. His anti-communism was born of a love affair with America. As a young man, at Leeds Grammar School and Oxford, his politics had been leftish. They might have stayed that way. But in 1955 ambition bore him from the Yorkshire Post to The Economist where, after a few months, he won a Commonwealth Fund fellowship and with it a year study- ing local politics in the South and the West of the United States. In America Brian dis- covered a national ideology based on indi- vidualism, bottom-up democracy and an active belief in liberty that meant pro- blems could be solved at home and na- tions could be freed abroad. This was ex- actly in tune with his own emerging ideas. The dispassionate romantic Coming from drab, class-ridden, 1950s Brit- ain, Brian might have stayed. But he felt in- dubitably British. The Suez crisis was be- ginning just as he left for America in August 1956; he so strongly backed the in- vasion of Egypt that he volunteered his ser- vice to the British military attache in Wash- ington, ready even to give up his new American adventure to fight for this hopeless cause. And though he later became enthusiastic about direct democracy (an en- thusiasm, like that for homeopathic pills, which was fostered by his links with Swit- zerland through Barbara, his wife), he was a monarchist to the end. Suspicious of intellectuals, Brian rel- ished exposing the soft, less-than-rigorous- ly-thought-out (he was fond of hyphens) orthodoxies of the liberal left. As foreign editor, he liked to draw unsparing compar- isons between the Soviet Union and the Nationalist regime in South Africa: to deny freedom on the basis of ideological convic- tions, he argued, was no less objectionable than denying it on the basis of colour. It was no doubt Brian’s command of words that helped to make him our Washington correspondent in 1958 and then, in 1963, foreign editor. In this role he wrote leaders on all manner of topics, often argu- ing a difficult case: for nuclear weapons, say; for supporting Israel (another of his unshakable causes) when sentiment was running otherwise; or indeed for the do- mino theory itself, which was never so ringingly defended. Brian was equally skilled as a sub-edi- tor. Articles that arrived on his desk with no clear beginning, end or theme were turned, apparently effortlessly, into some- thing perfectly sharp and coherent. More annoyingly for authors, articles that were perfectly coherent were sometimes turned with a few tweaks, deft as a paw-dab from one of his beloved cats, into pieces that said something quite different from what had been intended. A statement of fact might be qualified by “it is said” or the American invasion of Cambodia would become a “counter-attack”. These intrusions could be difficult to square with The Economist's tradition of open-mindedness; especially as Brian’s own mind was more contradictory than it seemed. His favourite conversation-part- ners were men like Henry “Scoop” Jackson and Richard Perle, hawkish intervention- ists; but he also had an acquaintance, al- most friendship, with at least one kgb man at the Soviet embassy in the 1980s. Away from work, the world he was analysing weekly was kept at bay. He did not own a television set, and found the best use of computers was to listen to American civil-war songs. Some of his pieces were pounded out on an ancient Ol- ivetti in a turret of Barbara’s family castle in the Alps, surrounded by peaks and clouds. Deep down he was a romantic, capable of great human feeling, whose head con- stantly seemed to remind him to keep a rein on his heart. He wrote sympathetical- ly and perceptively about Islam, and mov- ingly about refugees-especially boat peo- ple, and especially if they were Vietnam- ese. They were making his point for him....The Economist May l6th 2015 | .................................................................................................................................................................america's media crisis started with its biggest brands...Help teachers and children generatethe most exciting jobs creation game? A 21st C mashup of a board game like monopoly, a quiz like trivial pursuits, and both a mass media and an app such as jobs creation sharkette tank?. more : why not blog your peoples search for world record jobs creators ..last 7 years of generation of changing education 1 the board - maps of large continents and small islands, of super cities and rural villages, transportation routes for exchanging what people make connected to webs like Jack Ma's gateways where 3000 people co-create live for a day before linking in their networks (Notes on valuing freedom and happiness) join 25th year of debating whether we the parnets and youth can change education in tine to be sustainable 2 rules of jobs-rich trading games - lifelong grade 1 to 69, beginners to experienced connecting many previous games - eg game 1 if your region has no access to a seaport, how are trading dryports developed 3 backup every trial game ever played including successes & failures, searchable by valuable collaboration factors; geographically neighbouring, match particular skill (eg electrical engineerings) around the world 3.1 cases and the cultural lessons from future history that worldwide youth will need to translate if they are to be the sustainability generation 3.2 unexpected joys; eg often the most exciting innovations for linking the sustainability generation come from communities that had the least connections - eg some of the games best players are the women and girls who developed bangladesh as 8th most populous nation starting with next to nothing at independence in 1971; case sino-english translation of world record book of jobs creators- can you help us translate this into other mother tongues - isabella@unacknowledgedgiant.com us we chat line 240 316 8157 - click to diary of good news youth journalism trips 8 to china, 1 korea, 3 arab emirates, 13 bangladesh 1 to japan |
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fascinating curricula 1st to 7th grade rural colombia escuela nueva wise laureate vicky colbert - format cooperative learning.. |
Jottings from damocity.net (us branches in ca and wa) alibabauni.com and leapfrogtv.news on the 7 most vital student union friends groups of jack ma:
China Merchants Port Holdings bought a 90% share of the Brazilian port operator TCP Participações for nearly a billion dollars.
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We live in a world where port operators from one country own and operate terminals in other countries. PSA (
1 my professional work values sustainability of global brand leaders and their partners- i wish to go round madison avenue ad agencies with a pitch asking which of their clients will empower youth to live sustainability goals- this is very easy to do its just a case of which of your methods to include
2 central park south and windsor castle members (led by 2 females a new york jew and a chinese architect) include those who give hundred million dollars a way to universities - eg nyu engineering - two opportunities - help them ensure their donations linkin sustainability millennials, get their next funding- they want to see an empowerment summit that .lives up to franciscan empowerment of youth and are up for testing this among 1 black communities, 2 chinese networks
3 university of stars - which superstars of fashion, pop sport wish to be celebrated for empowering millennials to win back sustainability
chris macrae 240 316 8157
Worldwide Joy | ||
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67 X16 | Continental agrarian keynsianism Diaspora 3rd richest; Mapping supereconomy of millennials era | Moon landing intel starts up 68 moores-law doubling of chip capacity every 2 years Satellite age lifts off south's own development ideology emergespop |
74 X32 | Social networking 1.0 of end poverty's greatest race Economist Entrepreneurial Revolution celebrates birth of open learning era | |
81 X64 | Metacity | Soros has started billanthropy in |
88 X128 | HK Free Diaspora pepares inward investment | www berners lee |
95 x256 | Metacity mainland flourishes | Korea-Peru-Russia African-Asian Open society satellite launched |
02 X512 | Mandela extranet lift off | |
09 X1024 | World olympics MA orient www | Smart mobile to linkin 4 billion peoples Micro GD P |
16 X2048 | Uniting global social -millennials sustainability | |
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Far East and................................... 46-60 Japan and then korea up electronics & total quality 60: superports eg hk, taiwan, then singapore emerge- by 74 china diaspora third wealthiest ready for inward investing mainland ...let it be: time to unite world in celebrating asia pacific century 72 BRAC starts to link in partners in what Keynes would value as greatest economic miracle of pre-digital age to 95 -Bangladesh born word's poorest 100 million person nation becomes the greatest partner in innovation races to end poverty; worldrecordhealthtable.doc, 87 KB 81 Grameen in 5th year of testing circles microfranchise- 16 decison launch in 1983 evolves the greatest womens social network | . USA............................. 60s moon race starts but whats after impact for jobs in society 67 intel born in 68 on moores law; satellites uses ? tv superstars start getting very costly 72 Economist future history to 2012 summarises quarter of century of non-sustainable fixes dominated by US macroeconomists- system maps of transformation needed if 2010s is not to collapse global financial system .........LiveDairyMay2015..................................... during era 1946-2030 of spending 4000 times more on commns: 1969 (moon landing), 1976,1983, 1990, 1997 -5 curiosity crossroads to global social value which www millennials most needed America to mediate openly and recursively -diary of which american uni are worth global youth's time - eg columbia ny |
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