Political Pandora

“What is often misunderstood is that there are regional disparities within countries in relation to the digital divide—it is not just rural vs urban, but core vs periphery," outlines Javier Ruiz Diaz, Policy Director of the UK-based Open Rights Group, speaking to Political Pandora. The accelerating pace of technological development is transforming daily life across Europe, but is exposing the unequal access it provides.  

The gravitational pull of Cruise’s star power and the enticing spectacle of watching him do his big stunts warped the franchise into being predominantly about those two things — Cruise and his stunts.

In 2019, before the war, Israel was responsible for 0.2% of the global carbon emissions. However, as Nina Lakhani reports for The Guardian (2025), since the start of the conflict in 2023, Israel has been responsible for 99% of the 1.89m tCO2e (metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent) produced during the confrontation, primarily because of its aerial bombardment and the ground invasion of Gaza.

Pandora's Vinyl: Janelle Monáe's Dirty Computer is a revelation, a sonic coming-out party that arrived in 2018 like a technicolour bomb detonating across the landscape of pop music. In the pantheon of iconic queer albums, it stands as perhaps the most unflinchingly joyous celebration of pansexual identity as Monáe crafts a precise, personal, and devastating tale of intimacy.

In February 2025, Malawi became the first landlocked and the third African country to ratify the Global Oceans Treaty. This was a significant move as it demonstrated the importance of the oceans to places even beyond coastal regions. At the time the treaty had 112 signatures and 18 ratifications.

Pandora's Vinyl: Boygenius’ The Record is a triumphant convergence of three singular voices.

When Ella Yelich-O'Connor uploaded a handful of songs to SoundCloud in November 2012, one could hardly have anticipated the shockwaves she was about to set off in the then-manicured landscape of pop music.

In a world where innovation is the default setting and creativity is currency, artists are voluntarily opting for non-conventional ways of displaying art—digital exhibitions, interactive spaces, self-publishing, Instagram galleries, etc. With this shift towards breaking out of traditional institutions rather than breaking in, creators seem to be finding solace in the autonomy that non-traditional institutions introduce, and the question of where art belongs has never been mor

Lexi travels the streets of Hong Kong, dodging cars and bright lights in the night’s pleasant breeze. Hong Kong used to be colder, but Lexi moved here for the warmth. Lexias pardalis, or the Archduke butterfly, originally hails from India. As a second-generation immigrant to Hong Kong, she comes from a family that has been moving everywhere in search of warmth. 

Modern work leaves many overworked and unfulfilled, trapped in cycles of productivity without purpose. This essay explores how alienation shapes our jobs today—and how rethinking work through care, creativity, and community can offer a more meaningful alternative.

Ivory, the debut record from Omar Apollo, is an autobiographical testament to the fluid boundaries of identity, genre, and desire. The record arrives as a love letter to Apollo’s Mexican American heritage and small-town roots, transforming the specificity of his experience into something universally resonant.

Every Sunday, I retreat to my terrace, where time softens and the world slows. Among the trees, I unlearn the urgency capitalism demands and remember what it means to simply exist. Inspired by Sumana Roy’s concept of ‘Tree Time,’ this piece reflects on stillness as a radical act—an invitation to resist the ticking clock and embrace a gentler, cyclical rhythm of life, where being, not doing, is enough.

Water is a fundamental feature of the African continent, and it is often unequally distributed. As noted by the WWF, countries around the African continent normally share important water basins, yet the increasing construction of dams and reservoirs exacerbates droughts and floods, and centralizes water collection and supply. 

Former World No. 2 Ons Jabeur expressed her disappointment in response to the comments made by French Tennis Federation (FTF) President Gilles Moretton. As reported by The Athletic, Moretton had justified the French Open not scheduling any night matches for Women by saying that the scheduling was made with the “spectator’s preferences” in mind. 

Feminism, long before the first wave, manifested itself in the small village roads on the banks of the river Chenab. These manifestations continue to resonate through Punjab’s tradition of storytelling, termed Qissas, meaning ‘stories’.

What does it mean to move on from violence when memory itself is a site of conflict? In Gujarat, the legacy of the 2002 pogrom has been carefully, even violently, curated into the official memory of the state, one that erases as much as it remembers. What remains is not reconciliation, but a selective memorisation that excludes the lived trauma of the Muslim community.