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Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich provisionally suspended after positive drugs test

Marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich provisionally suspended after positive drugs test

Independent17-07-2025
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Darren Walker's new book is still hopeful despite growing inequality as he leaves Ford Foundation
Darren Walker's new book is still hopeful despite growing inequality as he leaves Ford Foundation

The Independent

time27 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Darren Walker's new book is still hopeful despite growing inequality as he leaves Ford Foundation

Darren Walker needed to be convinced of his new book's relevance. The outgoing Ford Foundation president feared that 'The Idea of America," set to publish in September just before he leaves the nonprofit, risked feeling disjointed. In more than eight dozen selected texts dating back to 2013, he reflects on everything from his path as a Black, gay child from rural Texas into the halls of premiere American philanthropies to his solutions for reversing the deepening inequality of our 'new Gilded Age." 'To be clear, not everything I said and wrote over the last 12 years is worthy of publication," Walker said. A point of great regret, he said, is that he finds American democracy weaker now than when he started. Younger generations lack access to the same 'mobility escalator' that he rode from poverty. And he described President Donald Trump 's administration's first six months as 'disorienting' for a sector he successfully pushed to adopt more ambitious and just funding practices. Despite that bleak picture, Walker embraces the characterization of his upcoming collection as patriotic. 'My own journey in America leaves me no option but to be hopeful because I have lived in a country that believed in me,' he said. Walker recently discussed his tenure and the book's call for shared values with the Associated Press inside his Ford Foundation office — where an enlarged picture of a Black child taken by Malian portrait photographer Seydou Keïta still hangs, one of many underrepresented artists' works that populated the headquarters under his leadership. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Q: Upon becoming Ford Foundation's president, you suggested that 'our most important job is to work ourselves out of a job' — a 2013 statement you include in the book. How would you grade your efforts? A: The past 12 years have been both exhilarating and exhausting. Exhilarating because there's never been a more exciting time to be in philanthropy. And exhausting because the political, socioeconomic dynamics of the last 12 years are very worrisome for our future. Philanthropy can play a role in helping to strengthen our democracy. But philanthropy can't save America. I would probably give myself a B or a B-. I don't think where we are as a nation after 12 years is where any country would want to be that had its eye on the future and the strength of our democracy. Q: Is there anything you would do differently? A: In 2013 and those early speeches, I identified growing inequality as a challenge to the strength of our democracy. And a part of that manifestation of growing inequality was a growing sense of disaffection — from our politics, our institutions, our economy. For the first time, a decade or so ago, we had clear evidence that working class white households were increasingly downwardly mobile economically. And the implications for that are deep and profound for our politics and our democracy. We started a program on increasing our investments in rural America, acknowledging some of the challenges, for example, of the trends around the impacts of the opioid epidemic on those communities. I underestimated the depth and the collective sense of being left behind. Even though I think I was correct in diagnosing the problem, I think the strategy to respond was not focused enough on this population. Q: Many people credit you for using Ford Foundation's endowment to increase grantmaking during the pandemic. Is that sort of creativity needed now with the new strains faced by the philanthropic sector? A: One of the disappointments I have with philanthropy is that we don't take enough risk. We don't innovate given the potential to use our capital to provide solutions. I do think that, in the coming years, foundations are going to be challenged to step up and lean in in ways that we haven't since the pandemic. The 5% payout is treated as a ceiling by a lot of foundations and, in fact, it's a floor. During these times when there's so much accumulated wealth sitting in our endowments, the public rightly is asking questions about just how much of that we are using and towards what end. Q: Where do you derive this sense of 'radical hope' at the end of your book? A: As a poor kid in rural Texas, I was given the license to dream. In fact, I was encouraged to dream and to believe that it will be possible for me to overcome the circumstances into which I was born. I've lived on both sides of the line of inequality. And I feel incredibly fortunate. But I'm also sobered by the gap between the privileged and the poor and the working-class people in America. It has widened during my lifetime and that is something I worry a lot about. But I'm hopeful because I think about my ancestors who were Black, enslaved, poor. African Americans, Black people, Black Americans have been hopeful for 400 years and have been patriots in believing in the possibility that this country would realize its aspirations for equality and justice. That has been our North Star. Q: Heather Gerken, the dean of Yale's law school, was recently named as your successor. Why is it important to have a leader with a legal background and an expertise in democracy? A: She is the perfect leader for Ford because she understands that at the center of our work must be a belief in democracy and democratic institutions and processes. She is also a bridge builder. She is a coalition builder. She's bold and courageous. I'm just thrilled about her taking the helm of the Ford Foundation. It is a signal from the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees that we are going to double down on our investment and our commitment to strengthening, protecting and promoting democracy. Q: Youtold AP last year that, when you exited this building for the last time, you'd only be looking forward. What does 'forward' mean to you now? A: I have resolved that I don't want to be a president or a CEO. I don't need to be a president of CEO. I think leaders can become nostalgic and hold onto their own history. Now there's no doubt, I know, that my obituary is going to say, 'Darren Walker, the president of the Ford Foundation." That's the most important job I'll ever have. But hopefully I'll be able to add some more important work to that. ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP's philanthropy coverage, visit

How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies?
How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies?

The Guardian

timean hour ago

  • The Guardian

How do we lead moral lives in an age of bullies?

We are living in an age of bullies. Those with power are less constrained today than they have been in my lifetime, since the end of the second world war. The question is: how do we lead moral lives in this era? Vladimir Putin launches a horrendous war on Ukraine. After Hamas's atrocity, Benjamin Netanyahu bombs Gaza to smithereens and is now starving to death its remaining occupants. Trump abducts thousands of hardworking people within the US and puts them into detention camps – splitting their families, spreading fear. His immigration agents are accused of targeting people with brown skin. He usurps the powers of Congress, defies the courts, and prosecutes his enemies. He and his Republican lackeys cut Medicaid and food stamps – lifelines for poor people, including millions of children – so the wealthy can get a tax cut. Hate-mongers on rightwing television and social media fuel bigotry against transgender people, immigrants, Muslims, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Powerful men abuse women. Some of the abused are children. Powerful male politicians make it impossible for women to obtain safe abortions. CEOs rake in record profits and compensation while giving workers meager wages and firing them for unionizing. Billionaires make large campaign donations – legalized bribes – so lawmakers will cut their taxes and repeal regulations. Each such abuse of power encourages other abuses. Each undermines norms of civility. Every time the stronger bully the weaker, the social fabric is tested. If bullying is not contained, the fabric unwinds. Those who are bullied – who feel powerless, vulnerable, bitter, and desperate – become fodder for 'strongmen', demagogues who lead them into violence, war and tyranny. This is hardly new. Throughout history, the central struggle of civilization has been against brutality by the powerful. Civilization is the opposite of brutality. A civil society doesn't allow the strong to brutally treat the weak. Yet in my lifetime, I've witnessed a breakdown. I've seen a change occur – from support of decency and constraints on brutality, to tolerance of indecency and support for unconstrained cruelty. Trump is not the cause. He's the culmination. So how do we lead moral lives in this age of bullies? We do everything we can to stop the brutality, to hold the powerful accountable, and to protect the vulnerable. Putin and Netanyahu are war criminals whose criminality must be stopped. Trump is a dictator who must be deposed. Rightwing politicians who encourage white Christian nationalism must be condemned and voted out of office. Pundits who amplify racism and xenophobia must lose their megaphones. Powerful men who sexually harass or abuse women or children must be prosecuted. Women must have full control over their bodies, including access to safe abortions. Police who kill innocent people of color must be brought to justice. Immigration agents must be prohibited from abducting people off the street or from their homes or court houses or places of work. CEOs who treat their employees like manure must be exposed and penalized. Billionaires who bribe lawmakers to cut their taxes or exempt them from regulations must be sanctioned, as should lawmakers who accept such bribes. This isn't a matter of 'left' or 'right'. It's a matter of what's right. Living a moral life in an age of bullies requires collective action; it cannot be done alone. Each of us must organize and participate in a vast network of moral resistance. This is what civilization demands. It's what the struggle for social justice requires. It's why that struggle is so critical today, and why we all must be part of it. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist. His newsletter is at His next book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, will be out on 5 August

Tariff of 15% ‘challenging' but avoids a trade war
Tariff of 15% ‘challenging' but avoids a trade war

Glasgow Times

timean hour ago

  • Glasgow Times

Tariff of 15% ‘challenging' but avoids a trade war

Peter Burke said that the EU-US deal avoids both a trade war and EU counter-measures, which would have had an effect on the north-south economy. He said 'the devil is in the detail' of the trade agreement finalised on Sunday by Donald Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland. 'We had a lot of modelling carried out on the various different options, and some were very perverse, that would have closed the market if you had over a 30% tariff with a stacking mechanism,' Mr Burke told RTE Radio. 'The key thing is that there will be a number of carve outs. Obviously, aviation has been cited as zero-for-zero, but also in relation to agrifoods and potentially spirits.' The bloc is set to face 15% tariffs on most of its goods including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals entering the US and 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals – as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars over three years. Mr Burke said it was his understanding that the 15% tariff on the pharmaceutical sector would be a maximum rate. He added: 'I think the president of the Commission has been very clear that 15% will be a ceiling.' It is still unclear from the deal, agreed five days before Mr Trump's threat of a 30% tariff would have come into effect, will mean Ireland will need to invest in US energy, he added. 'This all has to be worked out yet, as you can appreciate, I'm only hearing this for the first time last night, and we have nothing on paper.' Ireland's premier Micheal Martin and deputy premier Simon Harris welcomed the agreement struck on Sunday, saying that while Ireland 'regrets' the baseline tariff of 15%, it welcomed the certainty for businesses. Mr Harris said further detail was needed around how tariffs would affect sectors including pharmaceuticals. Ireland remains vulnerable to a slow down in trade with the US economy, due to exports of products such as alcohol, dairy and beef. The Irish government has also expressed concern at how tariffs could affect pharma multinationals based in Ireland, which employs about 45,000 people in Ireland, as Mr Trump had signalled he intended to target that industry. In addition, 65% of all aircraft are leased through Ireland globally. Business group Ibec said although the uncertainty may be dissipating, the agreement was 'punishing' for Europe. The group's chief executive Danny McCoy said 'Europe has capitulated on this' and 15% is 'very substantial'. Last week, Finance Minister Paschal Dohonoe said the Irish government would spend 9.4 billion euro on its budget in October, based on a zero-tariff scenario for next year. He and Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said these estimates would need to be revised if there was a shock to the Irish economy. Mr Burke said it was not naive to base the government's economic scenario on a zero-for-zero trade agreement with the US. 'No it wasn't because we didn't know what we were to be faced with,' he said on Monday. 'We do need to find out what happens in other areas, because this is very complex. 'It depends what happens with China, that's a very significant market that a deal hasn't happened yet. 'It really impacts what happens with our exporters here in Ireland as well, because so much product is in danger of being redirected into EU market. 'We also don't know what separate carve outs are going to emerge for the different sectors that are so vulnerable from an Irish perspective. 'Until we get flesh on the bones and all those areas over the coming weeks, we'll be in a better position then to really put forward what budgetary parameters (we) will end up with.'

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