As we end 2020 there is some positive news as we start the new year. Trump will be gone. Joe Biden becomes President of the USA on 20 January. There are vaccines out there that work.
There are conscious social movements that can make a difference – from essential workers organising for health and safety and better pay, to the growing international movements for Climate Justice, Black Lives Matter, and the People’s Vaccine.
In Thailand young people are now making themselves heard – demanding a more equitable society and debating previously taboo subjects.
So at least at the start of the year let us all work for something better than the misery that was 2020.
September 2021
BHUTAN’S COMING BORDER CRISIS WITH CHINA 9dashline
Trouble with the new normal British Medical Journal
Biden pulls punches on rights abusers Politico
Here’s What the Next Six Months of the Pandemic Will Bring Bloomberg
9/11: Inside the President’s War Room review – astonishing and petrifying Guardian
Biden’s COVID-19 Origins Report Leaves the Lab Leak on the Table Vanity Fair
August 2021
How Kabul fell so fast Axios
Inside Reach 871, A US C-17 Packed With 640 Afghans Trying to Escape the Taliban Defense One
Afghanistan Has a New Government: The country wonders what the new normal will look like Afghanistan Analysts Network
Afghan chaos undercuts Biden’s promise of competence BBC
Homesick Angel: Last Flight From Da Nang History.net
In Afghanistan, a reviled president is being exposed as powerless New Statesman
A Saigon moment looms in Kabul Asia Times
Is Taiwan Next? NYT magazine
Covid blame game spreads like a virus in Thailand Asia Times
I covered Hong Kong for decades. Now I am forced to flee China’s ‘white terror’ Steve Vines in The Observer.
Time for Covidnomics The Atlantic
The Art of Erecting a Tea Garden Chiang Mai CityLife
July 2021
The Chinese Sports Machine’s Single Goal: The Most Golds, at Any Cost New York Times
Thailand’s COVID crisis Asialink – University of Melbourne
Thailand: Critics fear crackdown under COVID emergency powers DW
Thailand faces vaccine shortage as Delta variant runs rampant Secret Siam News
Opinion: Prayut and his ministers have brought this country to its lowest point Thai Enquirer
Passing the Torch: Saowanee T. Alexander on Elder Redshirts & Thailand’s Youth Asia Art Tours
With friends like these? A Hundred reasons why the ECB has failed the game ESPN Cricinfo
Crackdown shows this government can work efficiently; just not to help the people Thai Enquirer
WHEN TRYING TO PREVENT COVID-19 PANIC CAUSES MORE PANIC Khaosod English
‘Everyone is dying’: Myanmar on the brink of decimation Asia Times
Quintessential Links Golf Alistair Tate
Opinion: Government’s misplaced priorities has Thailand firmly back in the third world Thai Enquirer
England, Southgate and penalties Medium – Ben Lyttleton, author of “Twelve Yards: The Art and Psychology of the Perfect Penalty”
June 2021
The Oxford vaccine: the trials and tribulations of a world-saving jab Guardian
‘A Form of Brainwashing’: China Remakes Hong Kong New York Times
The arrested: Hongkongers caught up in Beijing’s national security law Guardian
The push to revamp the Chinese Communist Party for the next 100 years Economist
The day Denmark stood still: Christian Eriksen’s collapse and the heroes who saved him Guardian
Is GB News a threat to democracy? That’s the million-dollar oesion Guardian
In China’s new Xinjiang patriotic tourism police and propaganda Reuters
Once the future, US now captive to its past BBC
Myanmar’s Coming Revolution Foreign Affairs
England at war, work and play – in pictures Guardian
Post-pandemic, should Siem Reap embrace quality tourism over quantity? SEA Globe
Thailand’s long descent into economic darkness Nikkei Asia
China’s Mass Internment, Torture and Persecution of Muslims in Xinjiang Amnesty International
May 2021
Grim Image of India Prompts Debate Over China’s Swaggering Propaganda NYT
The rich sin and the poor die Thai Enquirer
‘This Is a Catastrophe.’ In India, Illness Is Everywhere. NYT
Delegation of Powers to Thai PM Raises Concern of Authoritarian Turn Voice of America
Tony Blair, dread creature of the forbidden swamp Sam Kriss – from 2014 but memorable!
PSG vs Manchester City: How Gulf-owned teams diverged on football’s future Middle East Eye
Manchester United fans’ direct action is an expression of powerlessness Guardian
Fifty years after Apollo, space is about to transform our life on Earth beyond recognition Guardian
Biden and Xi talk of a clash of civilisations. But the real shared goal is dominance Guardian
April 2021
Phuket Was Poised for Tourism Comeback. A Covid Surge Dashed Those Hopes. NYT
Power grab in a pandemic: how absence of fans gave greedy owners their chance Guardian
England’s big six have backed down but Super League fight isn’t over Guardian
“Every Journalist’s Worst Nightmare”: CNN’s Myanmar Misadventure New Naratif
We can mourn Prince Philip, but not the monarchy Guardian
Critical condition – Covid in Canada CBC
Only someone who truly hates football can be behind a European super league Guardian
Myanmar on the Brink of State Failure International Crisis Group
My unusual week with Myanmar’s violent, paranoid military junta SouthEast Asia Globe
March 2021
How to deal with China Economist
Abuse of power: football’s culturally accepted contempt for its own referees Guardian
Why can’t Britain handle the truth about Winston Churchill? Guardian
The clown king: how Boris Johnson made it by playing the fool Guardian
What is journalism for? The short answer: truth Guardian
Japan’s 2011 tsunami, then and now – in pictures Guardian
February 2021
Why I stopped writing about Chinese Football Wild East football
How Covid-19 could limit travel for years beyond the crisis New Statesman
It’s landing day on Mars! NASA’s Perseverance rover will touch down on the Red Planet today Space.com
Nine months in the long limbo of long covid Dr. Ed Rooksby. RIP
The Man Who Captured The Hand Of God Has Been Erased From History Defector
‘A very dangerous epoch’: historians try to make sense of Covid Guardian
Aung San Suu Kyi overlooked Myanmar’s deepest problems Open Democracy
Life savers: the amazing story of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine Observer
Joe Biden’s Challenge Was Barack Obama’s Victory The Atlantic
Viral Woman Who Danced Through Myanmar Coup Tells Us What Happened Vice
Myanmar: Inside the coup that toppled Aung San Suu Kyi’s government Nikkei Asia
January 2021
Fall by John Preston review – the truth about Robert Maxwell Guardian
Covid-19: Five days that shaped the outbreak BBC
Thai opposition figure says government seeks to silence him on vaccine Reuters
DES files complaints against Thanatorn over vaccination programme scrutiny Prachatai
Navalny Is All-In on Bringing Down Putinism Foreign Policy
The strange case of Alibaba’s Jack Ma and his three-month vanishing act Observer
Joe Biden’s inner circle: meet the new president’s close-knit team Guardian
The abandoned and hidden Kent railway stations which have long been forgotten about Kent Live
Off the rails: Behind Trump’s post-election meltdown Axios
‘An unmitigated disaster’: America’s year of Covid Guardian
Dubai, Pandemic Party Haven, Faces Its Biggest Surge Bloomberg
Covid-19: ‘Don’t end up like us, please’ BBC News
Human Rights Watch – World Report 2021 HRW
Anyone shocked by the US Capitol attack has ignored an awful lot of warning signs Guardian
2021 storming of the United States Capitol Wikipedia
Insurrection Day: when white supremacist terror came to the US Capitol Guardian
Swarms of Trump supporters storm U.S. Capitol Reuters
Inside the Capitol siege: How barricaded lawmakers and aides sounded urgent pleas for help as police lost control Washington Post
How one of America’s ugliest days unraveled inside and outside the Capitol Washington Post
2020 was the year of inequality: can we turn it around in 2021? Thomson Reuters Foundation