It has been a long time since I attended a talk, be it an inspirational speech or a general world issues discussion.
That day after my lectures, I went to attend this talk by the excutive editor of The Economist, Daniel Franklin in Imperial.
Pretty much a general talk, discussing about the world in 2010. He gave his opinions on the events which are going to happen in 2010.
In chronological order, here goes some of the significant events.
Jan 2010- Post- Copenhagen period. A conference which aims to review the Kyoto Protocol which is going to expire in the year 2012. But, it did not yield any encouraging results.
April 2010- Run-up to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review conference. Obama Nuclear-free-world speech in Prague. Iran and N.Korea are the two countries in discussion.
May 2010- British General Election. David Cameron (Conservatives) vs Gordon Brown (Labour).
May 2010- Start of Shanghai Expo. Rivalry between Shanghai and Beijing emerges, as Beijing was the host for 2008 Olympics Game.
June 2010- World Cup in South Africa. First time being held in the African continent. The significance are (demographic dividend, investment from China/India, etc).
August 2010- Combat troops of US will retreat from Iraq by this month.
September 2010- UN General Assembly. A new form of global governance and interactions. G8, G20 etc. As US and China are gradually appearing as the world most influential nations, it's time to hold a G2 meeting.
October 2010- Brazil election. It's now important because it's one of the member in BRIC (Brazil, Russia India and China). However, Russia current economy seems to be dwindling down.
November 2010- Asia Games in Guangzhou. - APEC Summit in Yokohoma. - US Mid-term election. Time to review Obama's performances and popularity.
In general, the world in 2010 is full of tribulations. Basically, China is the main attention of the year, especially for the people in business field.
Well, after listening to his talk, although I felt so tired (even slept while he was delivering his speech), I was glad to be there that night.
I couldnt believe that after three-four months in Imperial, my life has changed tremendously. I used to read at least one or two newspapers and comment on some of the issues back then. But now, I buried my nose into the books and literally got out of touch from the world.
Here, current issues do not really matter, I guess? I remembered that I used to discuss and debate with a friend about political matters, and from vowing to change the situations, to losing the momentum to do so. How pathetic!
As the Malay proverb goes, "katak di bawah tempurung". Well, I guess the books are the
tempurung for me now.
Daniel Franklin and me.
