This edition of Inspire, a compilation of solely pupil-written articles, truly depicts the broad variety of the interests of Marlborough’s academic scholars through the range and depth of the topics covered within this issue. The featured writers have been able to independently select and write on any topic they please, thus demonstrating their knowledge and passion for these area outside our school’s curricula. We have been fortunate, as pupil editors, to work with this edition of Inspire. We hope that you enjoy reading this edition as much as we did working on it.
Thank you
Firstly, we would like to thank Mr Moule, the Head of Academic Scholars, for his continued confidence in the editorial team, and unwavering support throughout the process. Further, we would like to extend our gratitude to Mrs Jordan who works tirelessly to format and typeset all editions, making this issue possible. Finally, we would like to thank Mrs Doxford who excels at transforming our editions into paper. Thank you to all the editors who took part in this edition.
Theo W-B and Milo S
An image impression of a primordial black hole
What are primordial black holes?
Put simply, a primordial black hole is a hypothetical black hole formed at the very beginning of the universe, immediately after the Big Bang and the initial inflation of the universe, in the first fractions of a second of the universe’s existence. They could have formed due to extreme density fluctuations as the universe rapidly expanded, in regions so dense they collapsed under their own gravity.
So far, the only way we know black holes to form is when a large dying star collapses. However, this only explains black holes that are the mass of a star (or slightly larger, as black holes gain the mass of objects they capture). Scientists believe there must be another way for black holes to form, due to the observation of supermassive black holes, which are much heavier than even the largest stars, and can keep whole galaxies gravitationally bound to them, such as the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way, our own galaxy. This black hole is called
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Sagittarius A*, and is about 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun. So how could such a large black hole exist?
As they collide with other objects and dark matter, black holes gain mass over time so generally the older the black hole, the larger it is. For a black hole to become supermassive, it must have been around for billions of years, or since the beginning of the universe. Black holes formed then would also have had plenty of dense material surrounding them, enabling them to grow quicker. Numerous other black holes would have been formed near to them, so as they grew heavier and their event horizons expanded, they would have captured other black holes nearby.
However, not all these primordial black holes would have grown into supermassive black holes. Depending on the size of the extremely dense area that collapsed to create
the black hole, it could be even smaller than an atom, or many times the size of a star. An exceedingly small black hole is expected to emit Hawking radiation, and would in fact shrink over time, eventually disappearing.
Small primordial black holes could even explain dark matter. They absorb light, so cannot be easily detected, and have large masses for such a small size. A black hole with a mass of 1022 grams would have an event horizon with a diameter of 0.1 micrometres, or 1/10,000 of a millimetre. If they existed in large enough quantities, then they could be what makes up dark matter. They could even pass through objects, leaving holes visible under a microscope or even smaller. These holes would be left all over the universe, possibly even in the Earth. You might even find a tunnel left by a black hole in any rock you pick up! The chances of this happening in any given space are incredibly small — but over cosmic time scales, not impossible. In theory, a black hole could travel through a living organism with no consequence. They could travel inside a rocky planet and consume the dense core, hollowing it out without an observable sign on the outside, other than a changed orbit. Any of these would be an incredible discovery, and a straightforward way to prove the existence of primordial black holes.
Detecting any black hole is difficult, but these microscopic primordial black holes are even harder to find evidence of, as their effects on the matter around them are miniscule compared to that of supermassive black holes. To find a black hole, astronomers can look for a variety of phenomena such as; gravitational lensing (the distortion of light from background stars), gravitational waves (ripples produced by merging black holes), and accretion disks (matter around a black hole heating up due to friction and emitting high-energy radiation). Since the idea of primordial black holes was presented, a new gravitational wave space observatory named
LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) has been proposed and approved, and the launch is planned for 2035. It will be a triad of spacecrafts making up a precise equilateral triangle with sides measuring 2.5 million km, that will measure any tiny movements of the other two spacecraft, and therefore the gravitational waves moving across space. It will be able to see if any black holes formed before the stars, as the gravitational waves take time to travel, so we will effectively be looking back millions and billions of years into the past, right back to the Big Bang.
If primordial black holes do exist, then they could change our entire understanding of the timescale of the formation of the universe. Primordial black holes would pull matter together and stars would start to form earlier than previously thought. The new James Webb telescope will be able to look back through space and time and see light that has travelled for billions of years to reach us of stars and even galaxies that formed in the time currently called the ‘dark ages’ if this theory is true.
Overall, primordial black holes, even the tiniest microscopic ones, could have a profound impact on our understanding of how the universe works. They could be the seeds that create early galaxies, pulling in material and creating nebulae and new stars. They could be the ingredient for dark matter, travelling across the universe, tunnelling a path through stars and planets. They are an enigma that scientists are working to solve.
Analysis of the effects of digital currencies on traditional financial systems
Arthur D (L6)
In 2009, the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was made available to the public. While at first this novel currency was merely an insignificant new economic means of exchange, trading at only $0.00099, since 2009, over $3 trillion worth of Bitcoin has been transferred.
While Bitcoin is the most well-known example of this modern digital currency, it is but one of more than 11,000, a number growing by the day. The Oxford Dictionary gives the definition of a digital currency to be ‘A form of currency that exists only in digital form, typically operating independently of a central bank’. This highlights two key aspects
of crypto: Firstly, its intangible nature, it is stored in digital wallets and buying crypto is like purchasing a virtual key which allows you to move a unit of the currency from one person to another without going through a third party.
Secondly, the fact that it is a decentralised currency, outside the control of central banks and governments. In contrast, traditional financial systems, which are a set of institutions such as banks and stock exchanges that permit the exchange of funds, can both use tangible cash and are regulated by governments and central banks.
Cryptocurrency’s greatest impact on traditional financial systems is offering peer-topeer transactions thereby disintermediating banks while digital wallets also enable individuals to securely store assets without needing a bank account, making individuals less bank dependent. Historically, Financial services have been hard to access, causing 1.4 billion people to be unbanked globally. Cryptocurrency has the power to change this due to its accessibility as an alternative financial currency, available to any person with access to the internet. In contrast to banks, cryptocurrencies usually involve a lower fee during transactions due to the absence of intermediaries. With the faster transfer times, sending bitcoin is typically 60x more cost effective and up to 48x faster than an international wire transfer, making crypto a more appealing currency to use when sending and receiving money.
However, cryptocurrency also has numerous challenges. Its volatility due to its decentralised nature causes its prices to change on the whims of investors, making it a risky store of value. Moreover, cryptocurrencies are frequently subjected to hacking and due to being out of
government control, there are no legal repercussions if someone’s funds are stolen. Cryptocurrency transactions are also irreversible making ignorant individuals susceptible to fraud with no consequences for the scammer.
In response to cryptocurrencies, central banks are developing their own digital currency (CBDC). 80% of banks are considering CBDC’s in the future and by 2030 it is projected that more than 24 central banks worldwide will have digital currencies. However, CBDC’s would make it easier for governments to control or block your transactions as well as giving central banks the ability to freeze your assets.
In conclusion, cryptocurrencies are likely to become the money of the future. Enhanced blockchain security is reducing hacking risks, while stablecoins like DAI, linked to the US dollar, offer stability lacking in many other digital currencies. With figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk taking an interest in these alternative currencies, traditional financial systems must adapt or develop a trustworthy digital alternative to remain relevant in the modern economy.
Fast fashion and overconsumption in the age of social media
Matilda B (Re)
‘Fast fashion’ is a term which is being used more and more in recent years, and it is widely seen as a big problem, especially from the perspectives of environmental activists or the workers who are affected. It causes a huge amount of waste, much of which is unbiodegradable, and a lot of the garments are made in third world countries by workers who are overworked and underpaid. The meaning of the term itself is straightforward, however a simple definition is that fast fashion consists of quickly and cheaply produced trends sold at equally cheap prices. Despite this, it is a huge industry. In the United States alone fast fashion was worth $41.15 billion in 2023, and it is predicted to reach $59.85 Billion by 2030.1
The term fast fashion itself was first coined in the 1990s, when trend cycles began to speed up and retailers such as Zara hugely sped up production of clothing and split the year up into as many as 52 ‘micro seasons’, instead of the traditional two. By the early 2000s, online shopping began to take off, making fashion more accessible to people across the globe. Despite fast fashion not being an especially new phenomenon, the industry is continuing to grow. In 2020 during the pandemic, online only stores like Shein and Temu became more prevalent in western countries. Today Shein is the world’s biggest fashion retailer, with a revenue greater than Zara and H&M combined, despite the fact that it has no physical stores. Shein and Temu are not just fashion retailers, they are pioneering technology platforms which have taken over the fashion industry 2. In this way, fashion has become even more technologically focused. In many ways technology dictates fashion almost completely, at least for the majority of younger people. This is where social media has become so powerful.
Social media apps like TikTok and Instagram have made consumerism, and shopping in general, into a much more rapid and personalised experience. Take TikTok as an example; the entire ‘For you page’ (FYP) has been specifically tailored to a user’s likes, searches and comments. If one was to like a video about a certain makeup product, more videos about the same or similar products are almost guaranteed to appear. This streamlines the products being offered to individuals, making it far more likely that purchases will be made. This strategy is known as ‘neuromarketing’. Neuromarketing is the application of neuroscience to marketing so that companies can identify preferences and needs without the use of traditional surveys 3. While this is not a new idea, TikTok has taken it to a new level. The unique thing about TikTok is not only how quickly and accurately it creates an extremely personalised FYP but also how incredibly fast-paced the app is. Unlike platforms like YouTube, videos rarely last more than a minute, and creating is easy and quick. Becoming an influencer is much easier than it used to be, and due to the ever growing number of viral sensations, a huge number of different trends are being pushed onto users simultaneously. These ‘trends’ then pass within a mere few months. This has created microtrends and ‘core-ifications’ which vanish in the blink of an eye. Fashion has become something that is no longer about selfexpression or unique experience, but instead being influenced into believing that a style is ‘unique’ or that a certain ‘core’ represents something bigger. Because these trends are so fleeting, consumers need products that are cheap and delivered quickly. This has caused a bigger boost in fast fashion.
The mix of the staggering overconsumption seen on social media and the ever popular ‘core’ craze has lead to a new movement: underconsumption, or normal, ‘core’. The idea is to celebrate and promote an attitude of ‘less is more’ as well as ‘deinfluencing’ viewers to prevent unnecessary purchases. Instead of showing huge hauls, influencers have begun to take pride in showing off their old or preloved items. In many ways, underconsumption as a trend is hugely ironic. “The irony lies in the fact that underconsumption is a practice, while ‘core’ refers to an aesthetic,” says trend creator and Depop trend specialist Agus Panzoni 4. The trend is wholly antithetical as it is in itself a trend, something which greatly contributed to the issue of overconsumption in social media in the first place. However, it stands for something good: becoming conscious of the problems with microtrends and learning to wear or use something for longer than until the trend ends. It promotes what fashion should be about: timeless pieces that a person buys because they like it themselves.
Fast fashion has been a problem for years now, and will almost certainly continue to be one for years to come. Trends are also nothing new: the first big fashion trend was in the 14th century, when the nobility would paint their faces white to convey wealth 5. What is new and concerning is the massive promotion of overconsumption and increasingly short-lived microtrends on social media platforms and the ever dwindling art of self-expression within fashion itself. However, as ‘underconsumptioncore’ continues to remain quietly popular, social media users are slowly beginning to fight against the constant pushing of new trends and products. It could be that soon fast fashion itself could become a trend of the past.
1 What Is Fast Fashion | Vogue
2 How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion – and Forged a New Business Model | Working Knowledge
3 “TikTok Made Me Buy It!” and why it’s also making you overconsume – The Observer
4 ‘It is OK to be content with your simple life’: is ‘underconsumption core’ the answer to too much shopping? | Fashion | The Guardian
5 What is a Fashion Trend? – James Hillman Fashion Consultancy
First Impressions
First impressions are the foundations of forming relationships with other people. A well-known phrase is ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover’. This is saying that we shouldn’t judge people based on our first impression of them. However, from a psychological perspective this isn’t always possible. In my article below I will explain what first impressions are based on and when they’re most important.
First Impressions are based on many factors such as, character and appearance. Before you speak to another person you will base your assessment of their character and values on their appearance. The aspects of appearance may include their gender, race, age, hair and eye colour, what they’re wearing and posture. For example, meeting someone with a tall and open posture could lead to a judgement of them being confident and proud. Conversely, someone with a closed-off and bent posture may lead to a judgement of them being unhappy to be there or uninterested. As soon as you speak to someone you will unconsciously make judgements of them based on their accent and vocabulary. Common stereotypes that you’ve heard about could be included in your judgement. For instance, a Russian accent may give you the impression that the person is tough and unwelcoming.
According to Havard University professors it takes around five seconds to form an opinion of someone. Furthermore, studies from Princeton scholars show that it can be made in just tenths of a second. Either way the judgement made is almost instantaneous, giving you a very short time to make a good first impression. Therefore, when making a good impression, thinking about how you want to initially portray yourself is key. Generally,
Sophia Bryant (Re)
you can make a good first impression by: smiling, looking welcoming and approachable, being positive and being on time. However, depending on where you are, the culture of the place can determine what makes a good first impression. For example, in Japan first impressions are usually valued depending on your politeness and humility, bowing is a common greeting. This means that bowing or not bowing could be crucial in making a first impression. This differs from the culture in Germany where people value straightforwardness and professionalism.
From a psychological perspective one of the reasons, we make first impressions is due to the two parts of our brain used for decision making: our fast and slow thinking. This goes all the way back to our past as cavemen. Some decisions required by our distant ancestors were life or death and needed to be made quickly, the subconscious part of our brain (the fast part) is still very similar. Our brain is also considered to be a ‘cognitive miser’. This is how the brain always looks for shortcuts; the simplest and most effortless way to do something. Therefore, when we first meet someone, our brain makes a rapid decision based on how a person originally presents themself – this is often called the anchoring effect. This shortcut can be helpful at certain times when humans only have a short time to decide something. However, it also leads to split second decisions that could be completely wrong when initially judging someone.
Moreover, the ‘anchoring effect’ arguably conditions all your future judgments relative to the initial view. This shows how long a first impression will last for. If your initial impression of someone is negative, studies from Harvard university show that it takes at least eight positive encounters with that person to change your first impression.
Although, first impressions are incredibly important in building a relationship with someone, this doesn’t mean that you should make decisions entirely based on them. It can be hard for people to change their original thoughts on someone because they are an automatic response from the brain. However, a first impression about another person can be completely wrong. Your attitude towards someone and subsequent interaction should be based on their character and values, rather than simply first impression.
So, when are first impressions important? When meeting someone for the first time who you may meet often it is important to make a good first impression. For example, in a job interview, there are no second chances and the first impression, and subsequent short
interaction, must be right. If someone makes a poor first impression it is probable they will not get the job. Furthermore, if a business is trying to gain a customer they would want to make a great first impression. Hence why salespeople are taught how to make positive first impression, normally being well dressed and to smile. This makes it more likely that the customer will come back.
Overall, first impressions are the bases of forming relationships. However, while they are important for many things including jobs and businesses, people shouldn’t base entire relationships or important decisions on them. First impressions are snap judgements based on seconds, or less, of interaction. They are based on appearances and not on a person’s character – you should not judge a book by its cover!
The Greatest Invention
The BIC Cristal pen can be considered as one of the most successful products ever made in history, since its production in the 1950’s over 100 billion units were sold. The pen’s simple but incredibly efficient design allowed it to become an everyday item found almost everywhere globally. This makes it almost certain that at any point in your life you have come across this pen at least once. The creative design and the thoughtful engineering behind it, have majorly influenced the writing accessibility globally which contributed to the pen’s popularity.
A French entrepreneur called Marcel Bich is the foundation to the pen’s success, after he discovered the potential in the 190$ ballpoint pen design made by Lazlo Biro he purchased the patent rights for about $2 million and started the journey of creating a cheap version for the public. By using advanced Swiss watchmaking machinery, Bich developed a method to produce stainless steel balls with high precision – which was a crucial part in making the pen long lasting. He also chose to make the barrels out of plastic which no one had done at the this made the pen both light and durable while reducing the production costs.
The final BIC Cristal pen design is both extremely functional and incredibly simple, it includes a hexagon shaped barrel inspired by pencil shapes. This barrel prevents the pen from rolling off flat surfaces like tables and improves the grip. The barrel is made from polystyrene which makes it, durable cheap and transparent, which allowing users of the pen to see the ink level.
Additionally, the pens design uses these features:
• Air Release Hole; a small hole on the barrel which allows air to replace ink as it’s used, this maintains a smooth ink flow.
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• Special Ink formula; the ink is specially made so that it maintains high quality lines and prevents smudging.
• Stainless Steel Ball Tip; the ball is carefully manufactured so that it can rotate to release ink smoothly and evenly as well as preventing leakage when pen not in use
• Lid and Clip; the serves as a protective layer which absorbs shock on impacts and prevents cracks which increases the pens durability and life span. The clip allows the pen to be carried anywhere.
The Evolution of Writing Tools
In the past, writing was a luxury and was only available to the wealthy due to the high cost of writing tools and their scarcity. Traditional quills needed constant dipping, which made them very messy. With the invention of the fountain pen the situation improved as they contained an ink reservoir, however they still had their drawbacks, which included scratchy tips and inconsistent ink flow. In addition, these pens were also expensive, costing about $150 in today’s currency.
A breakthrough appeared at the end of the 19th century when an American inventor John Laud’s designed the first ballpoint pen which had a small rotating ball to distribute ink. However, the pen was too rough for paper, so it never achieved success.
Decades later, Laszlo Biro made significant improvements to the ballpoint pen. He realized that using thicker, oil-based ink instead of the typical thin, water-based ink could improve reliability. His idea allowed the ink to sit on the paper without leaking through, creating a cleaner and more consistent writing experience.
Biro’s design used capillary action –(when liquid moves through narrow spaces without needing any external force) allowing to draw ink to the ball tip continuously. This mechanism, was crucial to the pen’s functionality, ensuring it was always ready for use. Although his design was successful in South America, the high production cost kept it out of reach for most people, as a single pen cost about $190 today.
In 1950, the BIC Cristal launched at an affordable price of $2, quickly gaining popularity. In France alone, it sold around 10,000 units daily in its first year. Bich expanded production worldwide, setting up factories in multiple countries and by 1953, BIC was selling an impressive 40 million pens annually.
The availability and affordability of the BIC Cristal transformed writing into an activity accessible to everyone. It allowed millions of people worldwide to write and draw easily, driving up literacy rates significantly– from 35% to nearly 90% over the following decades. With over 100 billion pens sold, it’s clear that BIC Cristal’s impact on global literacy and education is very significant.
The BIC Cristal has become a symbol of effective design, with a structure that has remained nearly unchanged for over 70 years, showing the success of its original engineering. Today, the BIC Cristal pen represents more than just a writing instrument; it’s a symbol of the democratization of writing and a testament to how thoughtful design can make everyday life simpler and more accessible.
An image of the BIC Cristal pen
Fritz Haber: A Legacy of Innovation and Destruction
The 1918 Nobel Prize for Chemistry is one of the most important Nobel Prizes ever awarded. It was given to German scientist Fritz Haber for solving one of the biggest issues humanities have ever encountered. It is estimated that his invention is directly responsible for the lives of 4 billion people today. However, when he was awarded the prize, many of his peers refused to attend. Two other Nobel Prize winners rejected their award in protest, and the New York Times wrote a scathing article, stating that he is simultaneously the most impactful yet tragic scientist of all time.
The human body is primarily composed of oxygen, carbon and hydrogen. But the fourth most abundant element is nitrogen. Nitrogen is part of the amino acids that form proteins. It is part of haemoglobin, the compound that carries oxygen in red blood cells, and it is a central component of DNA and RNA. Nitrogen is essential for sustaining every life on Earth. Humans get nitrogen by consuming plants or animals; plants get their nitrogen from the soil, and animals get their nitrogen from eating the plant. The problem with farming the same soil year after year is that it depletes the nitrogen content. Over time, this nitrogen deficiency will reduce chlorophyll production, stunting plant growth. Additionally, their leaves will turn yellow, and they are more susceptible to pests and disease. Crucially, for farmers, nitrogen deficiency meant a smaller yield; therefore, they required a method to add nitrogen back into the soil. However, natural sources of nitrogen, such as bird droppings and nitrate deposits, were being depleted at a rapid rate. This was a global crisis, which required a new method for fixing nitrogen.
Within the atmosphere, nitrogen constitutes 78% of the air, but in a form that plants and animals cannot access. The nitrogen molecule consists of two nitrogen atoms triplebonded together, forming one of the strongest chemical bonds in nature. There are two natural processes capable of breaking this bond: lightning and certain types of bacteria. Lightning releases a significant amount of energy, sufficient to break apart the molecule into individual nitrogen atoms. These atoms then react to form nitrous oxides, which are deposited into the soil through rainfall. Furthermore, various species of bacteria living in soil can break the nitrogen bond, converting it into a usable form for plants. However, bacteria only replenish the nitrogen slowly, and there’s not enough lightning to produce nitrogen compounds to a large scale. Therefore, a method that allows us to artificially extract nitrogen out of the air needed to be discovered.
Haber spent 5 years working tirelessly on this project. His idea was to combine nitrogen and hydrogen not only at high pressure but also at high temperatures, with the presence of a catalyst, making it easier for the reaction to occur. To achieve this, a new experimental apparatus had to be invented, durable enough to tolerate extreme temperatures and pressures. Additionally, a perfect catalyst was also required, which he suspected to be Osmium. Although Osmium is extremely rare and only about 100 kilograms of the refined metal existed, the company he worked for had some supply of Osmium.
In the third week of March 1909, Haber placed his sheet of osmium in the pressure chamber and then pressurised and heated the
Imp P (Re)
nitrogen and hydrogen to 200 atmospheres and 500 degrees Celsius. Out of the total gas mixture, 6 % turned into ammonia. Upon cooling the gas, one millilitre of ammonia dripped out the end of a narrow tube into a beaker. Having successfully produced ammmonia, Germany’s biggest chemical company commercialised Haber’s process. Within a few years, they had opened a factory, producing five tons of ammonia per day. As a result, fertiliser production improved drastically enabling farmers to grow and harvest four times as much yield.
The invention made Haber a wealthy and successful man, getting promoted to the founding director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry. He also befriended some of the distinguished scientists of his time, including Max Planck, Max Born and Albert Einstein. While Haber’s scientific success was undeniable, his legacy took a darker turn during World War I.
When the war broke out in 1914, Haber volunteered for military duty. Unlike Einstein, who was a pacifist and denounced the war, Haber was a patriot. Driven by patriotism and a desire to contribute to Germany’s war efforts, he aimed to use his expertise and knowledge to enhance his country’s military capabilities. Ammonium nitrate, besides being a great fertiliser, is also an explosive. Haber lobbied to convert the factories, using his process to make ammonia
for fertilizer, to create nitrate for explosives instead. Before long, his chemical process was at the heart of the German war machine. However, Haber realizes that chemistry could make an even bigger contribution to the war. He set out to discover a gas that was deadly at low concentrations and heavier than air so it would sink into enemy trenches. After just a few months of effort, he created chlorine gas.
At 6:00 p.m. on the 22nd of April, with the wind blowing toward the Allied trenches, German troops released 168 tons of chlorine from over 5000 gas cylinders. The wall of gas advanced across the battlefield and, since chlorine gas is 2 and a half times heavier than air, it sank into the trenches of the Allied soldiers. Any soldiers that inhaled a lung full of the gas suffered a terrible death. Chlorine irritates the mucus lining of the lungs to such an extent that they filled with liquid. The soldiers effectively drowned on dry land. In total, 100,000 soldiers were killed by chemical weapons in World War I.
Thinking about this story, it would be simple to conclude Haber is a villain or a hero for inventing the process used to feed half the world. But the reality is complicated and controversial. Fritz Haber’s legacy is one of impactful achievement and deep tragedy. In the end, Fritz Haber symbolises the duality of scientific progress: being capable of fostering and destroying humanity.
How terrorists make money
For terrorist groups to be active they need a source of income to fund their multiple malicious operations. Most have multiple streams of income and nearly all of these are highly illegal although some are legal but highly controversial. This essay looks at ISIS and the Taliban’s different income sources.
A huge amount of money was gained from extremists by looting and selling valuable resources. An example of this is ISIS, who captured many oil fields at the peak of their power in 2015 and smuggled thousands of barrels of oil. To make sure people bought their oil they sold it under market price to increase the demand that it yielded. The market average price of oil is $80 for one barrel. The most common price for ISIS oil was half that at $40. This price could change because the US carried out multiple airstrikes on ISIS-controlled oil fields. Oil prices could fluctuate between $25-$60 due to these attacks. However many companies and individuals purchased oil from ISIS, with the US Treasury Department estimated that they made about $1-2 million a day by smuggling oil, meaning that ISIS was making about $40 million a month. The oil was smuggled into nearly all the neighbouring ISIS, countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey. They were making roughly $450 million a year which is slightly higher than the GDP of Tonga. This money was just generated from oil. This shows the extent of money ISIS was making at its peak.
ISIS conducted many criminal attacks in the territories they controlled. These activities generated millions for them. They robbed banks, sold illegal drugs, looted shops, illegally sold stolen artifacts, and extorted local civilians and businesses through imposed taxes. Major cities like Mosul made ISIS huge sums of
Neil S (L6)
money. It was a haven for ISIS before capturing it. The city was making ISIS $12 million a month. The most money they made at one time from Mosul was robbing the Mosul central bank, estimates say they stole $425 million from the pillaging of the bank. The Taliban has also made millions from “normal” criminal activities.
Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium which can be later made into heroin. With an estimated yearly export value of $1.5 to $3 billion the opium trade is huge, and the Taliban control most of it. This puts them in a position of huge power. There are thousands of estimates on how much the Taliban make annually off drugs, but they range between $100-$400 million. However, some experts say these are huge overestimations because the Taliban deny all involvement in the trade, and when they were in power in 2000 they did ban the all-famous poppy but they have not banned the opium poppy yet after taking control of Afghanistan again. The Taliban before regaining power in the country set up checkpoints across the ring road in Afghanistan and made millions doing so. The ring road in Afghanistan connects the main three cities in the country making a checkpoint between two of those three major cities a charging a small fee to get past raked in sums of money for the Taliban. Estimates say they were making $200,000 per day from these checkpoints.
For years criminals have kidnapped important people to gain a sizable profit and so have terrorist groups like ISIS. They captured many citizens from foreign countries and asked for huge ransoms. Numerous countries refused to pay those ransoms including the US and UK as they refused to pay terrorists. However, some countries did pay up. Several European
countries have been known to pay but haven’t admitted it publicly. It is estimated that France paid $14 million to ISIS for the release of their citizens and Spain is known for paying ransoms for various journalists but the amounts given are unknown. The US Treasury Department said in 2014 about 20% of ISIS’s funding came from the profits of kidnapping different people. If the ransoms are not paid the victims are normally publicly executed like James Foley.
Estimates say that foreign funding has made ISIS $40 million. Many of these donations came from governments in the Middle East. This may seem surprising to us, but this is normal business for them. Everyone in the Middle East has a rival. The biggest of which is the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. Each country wants to destabilize the other rival countries to become the great power of the Middle East. So, funding a rebel group in Iraq and Syria sounds perfect to them as it will cause governments to destabilise and capitulate. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar were all openly funding the group but in 2013 Saudi Arabia created a law to ban funding of any sort to terrorist organisations. Kuwait and Qatar
have not put in place any laws to stop terrorist funding. The US did place sanctions upon them for helping ISIS but there was not much the US government could do to interfere with the cash flow that ISIS was receiving through countries. ISIS had full control over the banks in those countries, unlike Saudi Arabia. After ISIS was mainly defeated the sanctions were lifted. The Taliban receives most of its funding from private donors. These men are usually the ones who own large businesses and have ties with the Taliban. These donations can easily reach one million pounds.
In conclusion, terrorist groups have multiple sources of income. Looting, criminal activities, and kidnapping are all illegal foreign funding is technically not illegal but highly frowned upon by the international community. All these different incomes give terrorist groups huge sums of money that allow them to create huge terrorist attacks. To limit terrorism, we need to be able to counter the funding of it. This can be done through multiple facets however the process would be hard and strenuous as stopping criminal activities is extremely difficult due to their private nature.
Was the Human Genome project useful?
Eleanor D (L6)
The human genome project was an international scientific collaboration that set out to sequence all the base pairs in the genome. It also looked for ways to sequence DNA faster, however, it took over 12 years to complete. It was hoped that sequencing the genome would allow scientists to be able to better target diseases using methods such as gene therapy; although they soon realised that genetic diseases were far more complex than predicted. Overall, I believe that despite the initial prosperity of the project when it first started out, it is not as useful as it once claimed it to be.
One reason that the human genome project was useful was because of the medical advancements caused. For example, one of the greatest discoveries from the project was that they were able to sequence and better understand the breast cancer genes (BCRA). BRCA are genes that code for the suppression of breast cancer. If there are any deformities in these genes, they are able to predict and prevent breast cancer in patients who are more likely to contract the disease. Not only has the human genome project allowed us to recognise potential gene mutations and their effects but also developed our own replacements for these genes. Another example of a medical advancement the human genome project created was the development of a replacement gene for spinal muscular atrophy. In patients with this genetic disorder, they were able to replace the mutated SMN1 gene which caused the disease, preventing them from developing further problems with their spine. Moreover, by being able to sequence DNA more quickly, it meant that they could personalise medicine exactly to the genetics of each person, decreasing the overall risk of the medicine and improving its chances of success. This also allowed
scientists to trial new medicines on people with specific genotypes who could be much more easily found with the improvements in DNA sequencing, by doing so it allowed new medicines (especially antibiotics) to be produced for patients with genetic idiosyncrasies. Another reason the human genome project was important was because it allowed scientists to better understand human evolution. Mapping our genome, allowed us to compare different ethnic groups across different countries and let us trace our migration back to when humans first walked the planet. This also allowed us to compare similarities in humans and showed that all humans share 99.9% of their DNA. The other varying DNA could be compared to other humans with similar genomes causing further equality in medicine as racial groups could have further personalisation.
On the other hand, the human genome project was not useful as it created ethical issues. If human DNA could be mapped out and traced back to diseases and genetic deformities, it would have allowed genetic discrimination. This gives the possibility of eugenics and genetic manipulation that could be used by groups such as employers or insurers
The BCRA1 protein produced by the BCRA gene
to discriminate against people whose genes are viewed as inadequate. For example, if a person were to have a higher chance of developing a genetic disease such as Parkinson’s, an employer might be less likely to hire them off the fear of them developing the illness. Secondly, the high costs of the human genome project could have been spent on a more medically applicable cause. In total, the project cost $2.7 billion and 12 years of research. Although the project was useful, this time and money could have been spent on other medical research and advancements that would have had greater achievements and success than the human genome project did.
The spending on the project was argued to be narcissistic, as our species wanted to learn more about our “superior” DNA. On top of this, the aim of the human genome project changed halfway through the research. In science changing your desired outcomes during research is generally frowned upon as it is seen that you are doctoring your study to achieve exciting results rather than increase your scientific understanding of a topic. This is especially true for the human genome project as they started to sequence the DNA of other organisms such as plants and fungi when they discovered that 95% of human DNA was ‘junk DNA’ as it did not code for any specific protein.
Finally, the human genome project was started with limited understanding. They thought when they began the project that the genome had more effect on a person than it proved to. Genetic diseases are not always caused by the same genes and usually are due to a combination of genetic deformities. Not only this, but they discovered that your environment plays a very crucial and unpredictable role in your genetic risk. For instance, people who are genetically more at risk of lung cancer were found to have lower cases of lung cancer than expected, as genetics were not the main cause of the disease. This lack of original understanding should have been taken into account before
such great amounts of funding were put into the project. The original idea of the human genome project was to map out our DNA rather than find specific causes for genetic diseases, despite how important the research was made out to be.
In conclusion, the human genome project was an important advancement in science that ultimately had to be completed. It would be impossible for us to truly understand how genetic illnesses work without knowing the human genome. The problem with the human genome project was the significant amount of time and funding put towards the project, despite its founders originally understanding that there would have been more effective ways to use medical investments, such as developing new drugs.
With our new understanding of the human genome, we can predict when people have higher chances of developing genetic diseases, although there is very little that we can do yet to prevent these genetic diseases from developing. Overall, the human genome project has allowed us to shift our focus away from knowing the specific code of the human genome, and more towards finding ways to treat genetic diseases.
Can being ‘intelligent’ put you at a disadvantage in today’s society?
Surely in this modern day and age, intelligence would put you in a position of power with so much riding on exam scores and university acceptances, yet intelligence can be a characteristic that many want to hide, not only at schools but in workplaces. Proving intelligence can lead to isolation from your peers, feeling your little achievements go unnoticed, overthinking and intense pressure from others. Although intelligence is a great attribute to have, it doesn’t come without problems.
To start, what is intelligence? Intelligence can be interpreted in different ways, emotional intelligence or ‘street smart’, for example. However, when one says ‘intelligence’, the type that springs to mind is the academic, do well at school type. Google defines intelligence as “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge of skills” and this definition fits academic intelligence, which is what will be discussed in this article.
Intelligence is a sought-after virtue that provides many benefits including finding work easier, being able to tackle problems from better angles and get things completed quicker. However, intelligence can lead to isolation from your peers, either fellow pupils or colleagues. Some intelligent people find making friends harder as they find it frustrating talking to people who don’t think or converse in the same way as them. In addition, isolation can be caused when someone proves their intelligence, and even if they didn’t mean for it to come across in a boastful way, their peers can think that they are ‘showing off’. Asking questions in class about something you are interested in, or answering a difficult question posed by the teacher can lead to eye rolls from other
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classmates. This is due to jealously or people are threatened by your intelligence. Therefore, intelligent people who have to prove this intelligence regularly can become disconnected from their peers and find it difficult navigating social life.
Once you show some form of intelligence, like a good exam score, it’s difficult to come out with a more ‘average’ result without disappointment. This can lead to intense pressure from parents, teachers and peers. If you build and then maintain a reputation for being clever, an exam which you didn’t do your best in can ruin self-confidence. It might not even have been a bad mark, but because it wasn’t top of the class or someone who normally gets lower than you scored higher, you can feel an overwhelming feeling of inadequacy and embarrassment. There is nothing more humiliating than hearing the whispers of ‘what did you get?’ circle the classroom after an exam is handed back, and then the disbelief of fellow classmates when they cannot believe you scored so low. Or, when someone says, ‘Not your day eh?’ referring to the paper in front of you, especially if this person is a teacher. This feeling is only intensified if you come home to strict parents, and they repeat this reaction. Therefore, the mental health of these ‘intelligent’ people can skydive during already stressful school periods, like exam season.
Furthermore, when you are deemed clever, people expect great things from you and stop noticing your little achievements. A test you worked hard on and were proud of would just be considered your ‘usual’. This can really put children down and cause them to put more pressure on themselves. The same can be said
of the workplace. Once you come up with a brilliant idea or submit a great project, everything else you do is subpar. It can be mentally exhausting to always be compared to this brilliant version of yourself that did so well, and although its quite nice to have something to try and beat, feeling like you’re moving backwards can be extremely demoralising. Suddenly, anything short of perfect is unacceptable.
Intelligence is about thinking, meaning you end up thinking about everything. Overthinking is not just thinking that everyone is talking about you, as it is commonly perceived as. It’s criticising and over-analysing everything. From everyday interactions to how sleep works. This leads to, particularly in my own experience, insomnia and anxiousness about things others don’t care about. Insomnia can be caused by lying awake at night wondering how we sleep and how it works, which inevitably leads to no sleep. Over analysing everything can contribute to anxiety, meaning that something as small as a brief look from someone can easily become a big deal in your mind. For some, getting in trouble is not just getting told off and disciplined. The incident remains in their mind, being repeated over and over until they are not even sure if the scenario that they keep
repeating in their mind is accurate. This over-thinking also happens before they make decisions, considering every possible outcome. This leads to actions not being completed and opportunities being missed, because there was a maybe 1% chance something could go wrong. Therefore, intelligent people are less likely to be risk-takers, leading to the perception that smart people are dull and boring.
In conclusion, intelligence isn’t all it’s made out to be. It leads to stress, perfectionism, overthinking, pressure and more. However, I do believe that intelligence is still a beneficial attribute to have, and if a genie came to me with three wishes, I would pick having intelligence over not. Intelligence allows you to be fast on your feet, means you have good problemsolving skills and that you are resourceful. We can’t ignore the benefits of intelligence in the professional world, opening up many job opportunities in teaching, politics, science and so much more. It even gives you the capability to change the world. Although it can lead to extra work at school, or more difficult tasks at work, intelligence is something you should be grateful for. As, if your brain bores you, you haven’t used it to its full potential. After all, no one heard of Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton complaining about their intelligence.
Psychological impact of retirement from professional sport
Retirement from professional sport can have significant psychological impacts on athletes. There are numerous examples of athletes at the top of their game who really struggle after this major life transition. there are several reasons for this which, sadly, makes it unsurprising that so many struggle. In fact, a staggering 63% of retired athletes admit they had some sort of mental health struggles after retiring.
Life after the final whistle
Michael Phelps (considered the greatest Olympian of all time with an astonishing 23 gold medals) speaks about the ‘post-Olympic depression’, and how difficult it is to find purpose after coming off such a high. This is the difficulty in a nutshell, the huge contrast between high intensity and having the whole world watching you, ‘being on the edge of the cliff’, and the loneliness that athletes experience afterwards. You achieve your dream, and as Michael Phelps put it, ‘great, I achieved my dream, now what’. This can lead to several mental health issues and in Michael’s case anxiety. This then impacted his ability to move on into the next part of his life making his departure from swimming even harder.
Many athletes define themselves by the sport they play. Therefore, retirement often leads to an identity crisis as they lost their primary role and sense of purpose. They struggle without the structure of training and find it hugely difficult to regain a sense of purpose as quite often their purpose for their whole life was about their sport. It can be hugely unsettling to find a new life. Athletes are forced to think about their life in a completely new way, they no longer have a set focus and
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routine, and this lack of structure and purpose can really affect their mental health.
With lots of the stories of people, it’s not as if they are completely fine mentally, and then just suddenly start struggling, often people are struggling already but they can cope because they are surrounded by a large group of people that become there good friends and they are often quite busy pursuing their dreams. Another reason for their struggles is that these athletes spend their whole career trying not to show weakness in any shape of form and they feel as if they talk about their mental struggles then it is showing a weakness. Michael says, ‘I saw it as a sign of weakness, and if I said anything about it, it would give my competitors an edge’. He really didn’t want to do this as his dream was to be better than anyone has ever been. For athletes in general, this means that while they are competing, they won’t speak about it, denying them of the best way to deal with it. Unsurprisingly often, when they retire, all this anxiety from a lack of purpose outside of sport hits them and they have no way of dealing with it. Consequently, people seek coping mechanisms desperately and often end up with addictions in substance abuse and gambling.
James Haskell, a retired professional rugby player, said to rugby pass, ‘My mental health has been tested more in retirement, where you’ve lost your identity. I was James Haskell the rugby player, was how I was defined. That was on Saturday, the Sunday I retired and on Monday I was James Haskell – who the hell is James Haskell?’. This perfectly demonstrates the reality of leaving the sport that you have been so invested in your whole life and the challenges of having to rediscover who you are. It is very
natural for these athletes to define themselves on their sport as they are at the top of their game and very famous so that is how the world defines them.
A further challenge to this dramatic change in life is that, specifically, and perhaps uniquely in sport, retirement happens at a relatively young age and often quite suddenly. People don’t have time to prepare themselves mentally, aren’t able to say goodbye to the game they love so much, especially as injuries are such a huge part of sport. Another problem with this is the financial stress that these people can be put on.
The athletes I have focused on so far did very well in their respective sports and therefore have financial security for the majority of the rest of their lives. However, most athletes don’t have this comfort. So, if they have a career ending injury, not only do they lose their identity, but they also lose their income. For many athletes, in order to go professional, they had to put everything into that, usually meaning that they don’t really have another career path that they could pursue after getting injured. So, for young athletes that get injured this can be immensely challenging on both them and their families.
The Death of Democracy
If democracy, at its most basic, is defined as a system of government in which state power is vested in the people, could it be said that democracy is dying? The first quarter of the 21st century has seen a significant and sustained assault on the mechanisms and norms of free democratic practice, with many established democracies experiencing a dramatic decline in both participation and acceptance of the democratic process. While democracy may seem imperiled, its death is not inevitable. To challenge this growing threat to our shared, free, collective system, we, ‘the people’, have to raise our voices and defend our right to freedom, fairness and shared responsibility. It is our inertia that will be the death of democracy.
Regardless of the values we attach to democracy, a dark stain threatens it, one that is seeping through the body politic of an everincreasing number of established democracies. As the USA balks at its role as the champion of democratic freedoms; the most basic of democratic principles have come under attack and states that once appeared to be embracing the possibilities of democratic government now stumble, slipping back towards authoritarian rule.
Weakening legitimacy has made the unthinkable a real possibility, embodied by former President Trump declaring a free, fair democratic election rigged, and British politicians spreading misinformation, misrepresentation, and mendacity during a nation-defining referendum. Even the ‘greatest democracies’ are struggling against the rising tide of autocracy: political scandal; economic instability, isolationism and the unprecedented rise in populism. As so called ‘Dark Money’ pays for access to the inner recesses of
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government and unknown backers lobby for special interests and single issues that benefit the only richest and most powerful. And, the fossil of democracy is steadily being chipped away.
This trend is characterised by a notable reduction in political engagement and an evergreater dissatisfaction with politics. A report from Cambridge University in 2019 unearthed the extent to which democratic discontent has grown. According to the report, an estimated 50% of the population in developed countries are dissatisfied with democratic politics, placing 2019 as having the highest levels of democratic apathy since 1995. This pattern even applies to many of the world leading democracies (such as the USA, UK, and Brazil) where democratic malaise has increased by a third since he 1990’s. However, not all hope is lost. In Northern Europe voter satisfaction is at an all-time high. Sweden’s prosperity, despite these tumultuous times, demonstrates that democracy can thrive – it must be nurtured, updated and respected or it will never recover.
Worsening attitudes have adversely impacted democratic rights with elected leaders manipulating the rules of the game to rollback rights and freedoms. In 2017, political rights and civil liberties had ‘deteriorated to the lowest point in more than a decade’ (Abramowitz, 2018) as 71 countries experienced falling democratic standards while only 35 reported comparative gains. This erosion is only increasing. In 2020 almost 75% of the global population lived in countries where the freedom of democratic expression – the right to vote in free and fair elections was either marginalised, curtailed or impossible. It is undeniable that democracy and its values have come under siege.
As the battle for democracy continues, we must also focus on the persistent nature of dictatorships that have spread over the decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In the Americas, Venezuela has followed Cuba down the path of dictatorship, and many other central and South American countries veer between dictatorship and infant democracy. The demise of democracy in Venezuela is not just an ideological grab for power, but a threat to human life. The chosen successor to Chaves, former Union leader Maduro and his corrupt government have made the persecution of political challengers a priority: leading to the arrest, incarceration and disappearance of thousands of civilians whose crime was to hold a different political worldview. Children have been starved, essential services have collapsed and 7.7 million people have been displaced. This is the consequence of repressive dictatorships. Ordinary people always pay the price.
While liberal democracies are struggling, the world’s largest autocracies - China and Russia - continue to leverage political influence, through loan agreements and vital infrastructure investment while undermining global democratic institutions and the influence of western democracies. The spread of antidemocratic practices is an existential threat to the global economy and a greater threat to us as a society, as alliances begin to crumble and nations become increasingly unstable. In a time when the line between dictatorship and ‘democracies’ has blurred, where autocratic leaders rig elections and smother political debate, action must be taken. Democratic symbols need to be assertively advocated for democracy to prosper. Democracy cannot succeed through inaction.
In spite of this manifest threat, democratic principles continue to thrive, as people still wholeheartedly support human rights, the rule of law and the right to participation. It is merely the restrictive institutions that we have placed around democracy that are being rejected, many
of which have not been changed for centuries. Long standing democracies must strive to become collaborative and pluralistic in order to resolve the very real global threats we all face, instead of the tired cliche of polarised, adversarial, partisan politics. Even if studies show falling satisfaction with democratic practices, the vast majority of people continue to perceive democracy as the best form of government. Democratic states have grown complacent, ignorant of the huge numbers of people subject to dictatorship who fight for the rights we take for granted. Even in some of the most repressive states, the demand for democracy shines through as protests occur over drought in Algeria or the continued opposition to Maduro’s repressive regime in Venezuela and his theft of 2024 presidential election.
Even so, peoples genuine desire for democracy will fade if established democratic states remain ignorant – turning away from the voice of the people who are clearly dissatisfied with how the system functions. Although democracy is under threat, that does not mean that we should accept our fate and allow it to wither. This gift of the ancient Greeks needs us now more than ever. Our rights today are the result of centuries of struggle yet now we sit idle, watching as freedoms are stripped from our fellow man across the globe. Democracy is threatened as never before, but WE could be the cure.
A Brief History of the Venezuelan Economy and its Collapse – A Cautionary Tale
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By mid-2014, Venezuela’s economy had spiralled into freefall following a steep decline in global oil prices. By 2016 inflation was a staggering 800%. To understand how its economy became such a catastrophe, it is essential to look back at the history of Venezuela – beginning with the discovery of oil – one of the major culprits in this story. Oil turned Venezuela into a textbook case study of a country falling victim to the ‘resource curse’, which is also known as the Paradox of Plenty. This is when countries that have an abundance of a natural resource also have much slower economic growth than others, which seems incongruous. Additionally, the political decisions regarding macroeconomic policy need also be considered as they combined to propel Venezuela to economic ruin.
In 1922 at a field in the Maracaibo Basin, large oil deposits were discovered by geologists which produced an impressive one hundred thousand barrels per day. Throughout the 1920’s oil production exploded with 137 million barrels being produced, placing Venezuela in the top three producing countries globally. As Venezuela continued to produce it, oil became the country’s most significant export and source of income by far. In 1960, Venezuela became a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), where the world’s largest producers of oil coordinate prices globally. This meant that in 1973 when OPEC placed an embargo on countries that backed Israel in the Yom Kippur War and oil prices quadrupled, Venezuela became the nation with the highest per-capita income in Latin America.
For Venezuela, importing goods was seen as more profitable than spending to develop local industry. When Venezuela needed something, they imported goods with cheap dollars rather than investing in industry, and over time became reliant on oil as their sole source of income. Once they joined OPEC, Venezuela sold oil in dollars (as that is the most widely used currency). These dollars were converted into Venezuelan bolivar, which were spent to keep the country running.
So far, Venezuela had enjoyed accelerated wealth following a boom in oil exports. However, global oil prices were buffeted by shifts in supply and demand, and in 1980 when they plummeted, the economy of Venezuela shrank due to its reliance on exporting it. And so, the first major problem, relying on oil exports alone, came to the surface. The President at the time - Carlos Andres Perez, was forced to accept a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help economic recovery. He introduced free-market reforms to further assist in the recovery, but these became the source of major uprisings due to them causing a surge in gas prices. A key figure in the riots was Hugo Chavez, a military officer and revolutionist, who came to fame through a coup attempt which although failed, gained him popularity and notoriety.
In 1999, Chavez became President of Venezuela. As a socialist and populist, he implemented policies which came to be known as “Bolivarian missions”. These focused on the welfare of Venezuela through targeting much of government spending on programmes including reducing poverty through food subsidies and focus on education. He had little interest in
saving the money Venezuela was making from oil exports. To consolidate his power, Chavez edged Venezuela towards becoming an authoritarian state while stoking popularity amongst the working class in parallel; the nationalisation of private business was both a symptom and consequence of this. He also extended his term using enabling acts, eventually ending term limits all together. This, combined with alleged human rights abuses and corruption, led to the imposition of sanctions by the United States in 2006.
Under Chavez, a series of steps throughout his presidency instigated a decline in Venezuela’s oil production. In 2003, oil workers went on strike in opposition to the continuation of Chavez’s presidency and his policy’s negative impact on the oil industry. Consequently, no money was coming into the country as no oil was being produced. This represented a huge problem for Chavez.
Chavez was worried the Venezuelan bolivar would lose value, so his solution was to fix the exchange rate. An application had to be made to government to obtain dollars. While this worked in the short term, in the long term the government became involved in all transactions and came to set the exchange rate. Businesses also had to be authorized by the government to import goods. This was problematic as waiting for government approval slowed down supply chains and made the economy less responsive to demand. Essentially, firm owners needed permission to spend their own money in an operating environment that was becoming less and less efficient.
There were minimal risks with this system while oil prices remained high, but as we will see, nothing lasts forever. The death of Chavez in 2013 was the catalyst which led to a disastrous unravelling. Nicholas Maduro had been foreign minister under Chavez for 8 years and succeeded in replacing him. In 2014 oil prices declined by 50% over 6 months. Panic set in since Venezuela
depended almost entirely on oil money. Maduro went to OPEC and declared that they need to keep oil prices up, but this was resisted. Venezuela’s stock of US dollars declined resulting in the government becoming less generous with supplying them to businesses. Due to this shortage, prices went up and one dollar became worth hundreds of bolivars. This led to people in Venezuela buying and selling dollars on the black market. They bought dollars from the government at the official exchange rate and sold them for profit on the black market. This resulted in severe economic corruption that rippled through all of Venezuela.
In 2017, US sanctions imposed on Venezuela were tightened by Donald Trump as they cut off Maduro’s regime from the US financial system, prohibited U.S. companies from purchasing Venezuelan debt. PDVSA, the major Venezuelan oil company, was also blocked from exporting to the United States. The Venezuelan economy was further crippled, as now they couldn’t export oil to the US.
The country desperately needed to restore credibility, but its political leaders doubled down on their mistakes instead. The government created different exchange rates for different people and different products, but this just made it easier to scam the government for dollars as the added complexity of the system created loopholes.
The culmination of all these mistakes was a Venezuelan economy in chaos. Once again though, the government made another major error – it started printing money which caused inflation to soar. Access to inflation related data was hindered as the government tried to hide the state of the economy. Hyperinflation amplified the difficulties businesses were facing with price caps and rapidly rising losses as a result, leading to the lack of any incentive to carry on. It also became impossible to import anything because the bolivar had become virtually worthless.
The New Reality
Businesses that required imported goods, the majority of them, froze all over Venezuela as no one could get dollars. School days and office hours were cut short to save electricity. Another impact, typical of the environment, was that hospitals had no gloves, sutures, food or gauzes and surgeons were forced to operate on patients with flashlights as electricity would cut out mid-surgery which, of course, resulted in increased mortality rates.
What can be taken from the Collapse?
To conclude, no politician seemed able to do what was required to fix the economy and
instead each of their mistakes cascaded to an ever-worsening economy. Venezuela became the paradigm of a failed petrostate. It demonstrates the danger of basing an entire economy on a single commodity. Although oil was lucrative for a while, inevitable price volatility meant it was always likely the economy would follow suit. Today, Guyana, a country bordering Venezuela, has just experienced a rapid increase in oil output from a huge new oil field and has been named “the new Qatar”. It becomes one of the richest countries in the world in terms of GDP per capita from being one of the poorest a few years ago. The story of Venezuela began in a similar way, will Guyana learn from this, or will it experience the same fate as Venezuela?
Figure 1 - Statista
History of the Instant noodle
Instant noodles are a type of food consisting of precooked noodles and dried into a block, with flavouring powder, and seasoning oil included in the package. The dried noodle block is designed to be soaked in boiling water before eating. This 29-cent pack of ramen is incredibly popular globally, with around 290 million people eating instant noodles daily and even coming out on top of the “What was Japan’s greatest invention of the 20th century” poll in the Fuji Research in the year 2000. Being cheap, convenient, and easy to store, it is no wonder that instant noodles received such immense success. To understand how it achieves this, we must start with the inventor of instant noodles: Momofuku Ando.
Taiwanese-born Japanese businessman Momofuku Ando (born Go Pek-Hok) is known as the inventor of Nissin Chaikin Ramen and the creator of the brands Top Ramen and Cup Noodles. He was born in 1910 into a wealthy family, and raised by his grandparents in Tainan city after the death of his parent in the early years of his life. In 1932, at the age of twenty-two, he opened his very own textile company in Twatutia Daito Tei (now known as Dadaocheng) which was inspired by the small textile store owned by his grandparents. Just a year later he headed to Osaka, Japan where he changed his name to what he is currently known as and set up a clothing company while he attended the renowned Ritsumeikan University. His business was a quick success, and he soon started to dabble in a variety of other Enterprises from prefabricated housing to the production of both charcoal and salt.
However, with the start and end of the Second World War, Japan was left in a state of
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devastating poverty. In 1948, Momofuku served two years in jail after being convicted of tax evasion and was left destitute. With his businesses gradually shuttered, he was left with nothing but his house. At that time, the Japanese government were continuing their wartime rationing program, which involved banning the sale of street food. This rationing law and the Government’s inefficiency and corruption led to widespread hunger and an open-air illegal market; many of which were selling ramens and gyoza as they are both made from surplus wheat flour, which are high in calories and were therefore considered “stamina food.”
Momofuku claimed that, during the early 1950s, he noticed the long lines of starving people waiting out in freezing temperatures just for a chance to taste some hot underground Ramen. This made him think of how slow it was to make homemade ramen. If he could just create an alternative version of ramen that could be prepared quickly, this would not only revolutionise the way Japanese people prepared their favourite meals but would also decrease the number of hungry citizens in Japan.
Momofuku spent a few years brooding over this idea before finally, in 1957, at the lowest point of his life financially, he decided to turn his idea into reality. But it was not as easy as it seemed. Momofuku had no noodle-making experience; he had to figure out how to bring great flavour and texture to instant food by himself. After a year of experimenting, he finally found a breakthrough. No one would expect that on one faithful night, he saw his wife fry up their tempura in the kitchen by using piping hot oil, which then prompted him to realise that frying noodles to extract their moisture was the key. By using this method, noodles
could be stored for longer periods and can later be rehydrated with hot water to return their natural desired texture. After constant trial and error, he finally figured out a way to properly dry the noodles. Finally, in 1958, he developed his very first flavour profile, changed his company name to Nissin, and released his Chikin Ramen.
Although the initial cost of the instant noodle was five times the price of fresh noodle at 35 Yen a pack, which was far from his goal of feeding Japan’s poor working people, the taste and convenience made it a huge hit. Momofuku played a direct role in trying to sell instant ramen; it is said that he set up a sales booth in Tokyo to give customers a chance to try the new product. Within its first year on the market, his newfound company, Nissin Food, was selling 10,000 portions every day.
This initial success may have been due to the number of two-income households in Japan. It had been over a decade since the end of World War II; with the Japanese economy
improving, surplus supplies of wheat flower, and people gradually returning to working long hours, these were the perfect circumstances for instant ramen to succeed. In the first year of their sale, Nissin sold thirteen million packages and reached the billions in just a decade.
Their sale only grew with time and by the mid-1960s, Nissin looked to expand into other countries. While touring the United States as a potential new market, Momofuku noticed the way office staff use disposable cups, which they simply throw away after being used. The idea of single-use containers was foreign to him, but he decided that if he wanted to spread his instant noodle industry abroad, he would have to embrace this new idea. Thus, he had a team of noodle scientists generate almost forty different prototypes for a new type of instant noodle. The updated version would be consumable straight from a disposable cup. Finally, the final design was a cup made up of lightweight polystyrene that could better insulate the heat of the noodles than other paper-based counterparts.
In 1971, at the age of sixty-one, Momofuku formally introduced the “Cup Noodle”. A cup of instant noodles even included dried vegetables, creating a complete instant soup dish. As many would expect, Cup Noodle was an enormous success like Chikin ramen. It was so popular that Nissin could not keep up with the demand. By 1989, Cup Noodles completely overtook packaged noodles’ sales even though their initial price was four times as much as a package of instant noodles.
Despite its success, there was a slight problem at the beginning. Cup Noodles did not take off in Japan until the year 1972. From February 19 to February 28, a hostage crisis and police standoff happen at a mountain lodge near Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture. The incident was called the “Asama-Sanso incident;” in which the police rescue operation on the final day of a standoff with five Marxist radicals was broadcasted in Japan, lasting 10 hours and 40 minutes. The police needed to be fed and, being high in calories and convenient, Cup noodle was their choice. Because everyone in Japan was watching this broadcast, they all saw how officers eat cup after cup of instant noodles. This was like a free advertisement for Nissin’s Cup Noodles, promoting the sale of Cup Noodles instantly.
The second problem is that in Japan, standing while eating is considered rude; thus, Cup Noodles do not strike a chord with Japanese customers. To tackle this problem, Nissin produced around 2,000 cup noodles vending machines, which could dispense hot water, allowing customers to enjoy cup noodles right then and there. These machines are placed around pedestrian zones and areas that young people often pass through. When the sales were good, one of these machines could sell as many as 20,000 cups.
Today, instant noodles are not just a hit in Japan. For example, China is currently the largest market, eating over forty billion servings a year, with Korea beating it with its per capita consumption, eating about seventy-five servings per year, and over one hundred billion servings globally. On the American side, despite being a relatively new type of food, today’s instant noodle consumption in the US is over 4.5 billion servings per year.
Finally, at the age of ninety-five, Momofuku retired. Now, the Nissin company is currently led by his son, Koki. With a report of over 420 billion yen in revenue in 2023, everyone can confidently say that Momofuku Ando had led a highly successful life while working on this invention.
Bibliography:
- Nissin Samurai noodle
- Magic Ramen by Andrea Wang
- Nissin website-About NISSIN-Our Founder “Momofuku Ando, a Young Man Brimming with Entrepreneurial Spirit.”
