Category Archives: Harvard Sixth Course

Australia has always had a hold on me, for reasons I still can’t fully name. And for nearly all my adult life, the man in charge of Australia has been John Howard. Even though I mostly disagree with his politics, I’ve … Continue reading →

Late last Fall, we were graced by contrasting lectures in different parts of the school on the same night. One by a world famous Nobel Laureate credited with ending the Cold War and the other by a humble largely unknown … Continue reading →

India’s current Finance Minister visited the Harvard Business School last week and delivered a boring recitation of India’s economic woes and a list of problems the country needs to fix in order to grow even further. There was much criticism … Continue reading →

Often, superstar speakers can be frustrating because their high profile means they have to be carefully diplomatic, and hence they don’t say anything interesting. Even then though, it’s not what they say so much as how they say it that’s important, … Continue reading →

I was always going to be spending this summer in Bogota; for more than a year now, the universe has seemed to be conspiring to make that happen. But if anyone could have provided the inspiration to spend some time … Continue reading →

This semester – which, thankfully, ended last week – was rather more manic than the last one, which is why my blogging became even more infrequent than usual. But that’s not to say the usual line-up of great speakers didn’t … Continue reading →

Why does Ram Guha qualify for a ‘sixth course’ when recent big-wig visitors like Steven Colbert(entertaining but insubstantial) and John Negroponte (dull and insubstantial) do not? Because Guha, as always, had polemical things of interest on his mind. He was here to speak … Continue reading →

The “Mad Arab” came, saw and appeared to urgently need something to conquer. He wore his combat fatigues because, he said, after days of testifying before Congress, there was too much blood on his uniform. He spoke well, with humour and … Continue reading →

Addressing a full-capacity Forum audience, Pascal Lamy began by rambling on metaphysically about the etymology of governance (Latin, ‘rudder’) and current trends in global governance when a bearded man suddenly stood up and began yelling “WTO means death to farmers, WTO … Continue reading →