23/3/2020
Dear members and friends, Like everyone, the Royal African Society has been impacted by the coronavirus Covid-19. I thought it sensible to let you know how we will be operating and what we will be doing as long as the emergency lasts. Fortunately, none of our staff or Council have yet caught the virus, …
The coronavirus Covid-19 has delivered a massive shock to the world. We will all be adjusting to it not just for months but for years. It has major implications for Britain, for Africa and for the whole world, and it is not too soon to start thinking about the...
17/3/2020
As the crash in the crude oil price this week has deepened the sell-off in financial markets on the back of the coronavirus, so we are being treated to memorable quotes and alarmist forecasts in the media. One of our favourites is the catchy “$20 in 2020”....
13/3/2020
The Franc Zone is vulnerable to the criticism that it is a colonial arrangement. It consists of fourteen countries on mainland Africa, all but two of which are former French colonies. (There is a separate arrangement with the Comoros.) The currency, the CFA ...
13/2/2020
2019 was a pretty mixed year both in Africa and the UK. In Africa, there were bright spots like Senegal and Ghana; some dark spots, like Cameroon and Zimbabwe where problems are festering; and a lot of dappled spots in between from Sudan and Ethiopia, w...
09/1/2020
We read last week that the Brazilian economy ministry had adjusted its monthly export data for September, October and November twice in under a week. The revisions were sizeable: that for November was close to US$6bn. They undermine the credibility of the stat...
19/12/2019
This blog was co-authored by Dr Julian Eaton (Co-Director of the Centre for Global Mental Health at LSHTM and Mental Health Director at CBM International), Dr Nicholas Westcott (Director of the Royal African Society) and Prof Stanley Okolo (Director-General of...
10/10/2019
When a prominent Liberian women’s rights activist, let us call her Mary, was personally invited to Britain by DfID to speak at the 2017 Family Planning Summit, she leapt at the opportunity to give direct testimony to a key meeting. But first she had to tra...
16/7/2019
When a prominent Liberian women’s rights activist, let us call her Mary, was personally invited to Britain by DfID to speak at the 2017 Family Planning Summit, she leapt at the opportunity to give direct testimony to a key meeting. But first she had to tra...
16/7/2019