Places

TIMOR LESTE: Future Lies in the Young Nation’s Hands

Friday, July 8th, 2011

DILI – Timor-Leste is a young nation in every sense. Nine years after achieving formal independence in 2002, ending 24 years of savage occupation by the Indonesian army, half of its population of 1.1 million is under the age of 18. Many of its children lost friends and relatives during the Indonesian era and its [...]

Posted in IPS, Timor-Leste, Youth | Comments Off

High hopes for tuberculosis in Bangladesh

Sunday, April 10th, 2011

Reader’s Digest January 2011 High hopes for tuberculosis in Bangladesh PDF

Posted in Bangladesh, Health, Reader's Digest | Comments Off

Fragile states speak up on aid spending

Monday, April 4th, 2011

Guardian Poverty Matters blog, Friday 1 April 2011 — About a year ago, officials from seven fragile states met out of donor earshot to compare notes and air their grievances about how billions of dollars of donor money has been spent on peacebuilding and statebuilding over the years.
Dili, Timor-Leste’s capital, was the perfect place to [...]

Posted in Aid, Guardian, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Emilia Pires

Friday, April 1st, 2011

Monocle Issue 41 Emilia Pires Finance Minister PDF

Posted in Monocle, Politics, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Countdown to coup

Friday, April 1st, 2011

LONDON: There’s a familiar tension simmering in Thailand. Growing dissatisfaction among the middle and lower classes is close to ruining a bubbling political hotpot in the hands of Abhisit Vejjajiva, an unelected pretty-boy prime minister whose rise to power was only possible thanks to deals struck with the army and corrupt politicians.
But the people have [...]

Posted in Politics, SOAS Spirit, Thailand | Comments Off

East Timor’s ‘Nuniversity’

Tuesday, January 18th, 2011

The Irrawaddy
By MATT CROOK
JANUARY 18, 2010
LAUTEM — The nuns were creating an almighty din. In one room there was a sister getting down with a keyboard, while in another there were a couple of nuns bashing out chords on guitars.
While not the most gifted musicians of the Catholic Church, the sisters’ real talents lie in [...]

Posted in Employment, The Irrawaddy, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Forecast 2011: Flashing the cash seen as the path to success

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Monocle December 28, 2010 — Dili
Writer: Matt Crook
They may not yet have flat roads, regular electricity or a constant water supply, but work on Timor-Leste’s first mall is almost complete. While it’s all systems go in the capital, Dili, where high-end developments are sprouting in the most unlikely places, two-thirds of the country who live [...]

Posted in Economy, Monocle, Politics, Timor-Leste | Comments Off

Bangkok’s best and worst of 2010

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

CNNGo December 27, 2010 — It was a riotous year for Thailand in 2010. The rural masses took to the streets of Bangkok and brought the city to a standstill with their futile attempts to get to the front of the queue for an imported brand of donut, only to be shooed away by the [...]

Posted in CNNGo, Lifestyle, Thailand | Comments Off

Rights groups blast Thailand for lack of action on child porn

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

LONDON: A gap in the Thai penal code is fuelling “an environment of impunity” on the streets of Bangkok and leaving distributors of child pornography free to operate without fear of apprehension, rights groups say.
“The absence of a specific law against child pornography has concrete consequences for the protection of children,” said Eleonore Dziurzynski, public [...]

Posted in General, SOAS Spirit, Thailand | Comments Off

The DJ is dead, long live the DJ

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

LONDON: Once upon a time there was a DJ competition that all the world’s turntablists wanted to win. The list of past champions read like a who’s-who of scratch DJs. They came they cut they conquered. But that legacy was a distant memory on October 18 as the new breed did battle at this year’s [...]

Posted in Nightlife, SOAS Spirit, UK | Comments Off

About me

I work for Plan in Bangkok. I was a freelance journalist based in Southeast Asia (mostly Timor-Leste). I recently did my MA at SOAS. You can read my stories here on this website. Find out more about me here or contact me