Entertainment
Capitalism reborn – again
“An Unequal Future: Asia’s Battle for Life and Power”, Oxfam’s recent release reveals an entire continent in the grip of unprecedented inequality — with Pakistan at its epicentre.
The economic and political model of the country, and therefore also its response to climate change, is constructed in such a way as to make a few spectacularly rich at the top while keeping the rest in poverty, informal work and dependence.
The wealthiest 10% of South Asians own approximately 77% of income and wealth, whereas the bottom half live on a meagre amount of 12–15%. This is the Pakistan of today, in which the old-established nobility has been replaced by political dynasties, an army combine and corporate barons.
More than 80% of the workforce works in what is known as the informal economy — without contracts, without protection. The poor are massively taxed by inflation through skyrocketing prices of food and fuel, but the rich have immunity, concessions and an untouchable agricultural tax shield. The tax-to-GDP ratio is under 10%, among the lowest in Asia, and inequality is built into the system.
The hidden constitution of Pakistan is its foreign debt. By 2022, debt owed to Asian developing nations reached an estimated $443 billion, of which Pakistan’s share has led to brutal cuts in health, education, and social protection. More than 42% of Pakistanis today fall below the poverty line, and every IMF-imposed “reform” plunges millions more into suffering.
Debt servicing outstrips what is spent on schools and hospitals, mortgaging the future of the nation to creditors and local elites. Austerity, in reality, is a war against the poor.
The climate crisis is amplifying this injustice. The floods of 1998 and this year submerged the lives of 33 million Pakistanis, but assistance afterwards largely materialised in the form of fresh loans. According to Oxfam, low-income countries such as Pakistan currently spend about twice their entire allocation for climate finance on debt service. The wealthy pollute and the destitute drown.
The richest 1% of people in South Asia produce 17 times more carbon than the poorest half. In Pakistan’s fortified suburbs, energy-guzzling mansions and fleets of SUVs are the symbols of climate apartheid: Those most responsible for global warming pay more to get away scot-free; farmers lose their land while women walk farther for water; families in mountain villages liquefy as glaciers melt into rivers now too wet or too dry.
Inequality also extends to technology. In Asia, 83% of people living in urban areas are online; the figure is 49% for those residing in rural settings and Pakistan does worse. The internet is still available only in cities and select privileged schools, while slow speeds and high data prices continue to exclude millions.
The 2023 internet blackout alone cost $17 million, ruining livelihoods for freelancers and small traders. For the poor, disconnection is exclusion from education, jobs and even state welfare systems, now digitised but inaccessible.
Women are also the heaviest “price” that this order has been able to exploit.
They do as much as four times more unpaid care work than men and are 41% less likely to use mobile internet. Oxfam calculates that full female participation in the labour force could boost Asia’s gross domestic product by $4.5 trillion a year, yet patriarchy in Pakistan keeps women landless, voiceless and disposable. When the pain of an economic or climate shock needs absorbing, it is women — particularly in Sindh and Balochistan — who take up that burden.
The report warns that rising inequality is undermining democracy throughout Asia. In Pakistan, plutocracy reigns. Billionaires are served by politicians, business empires are run by uniforms and spoils are brokered by bureaucrats. Every regime, whether civilian or military, defends the same class interests. “Stability” and “investment confidence” always refer to maintaining elite control while the working poor are deprived of welfare and rights.
Elections change faces, not fortunes. Surveillance spreads as civic space closes. Even education and access to the internet have become privileges —conditional on submission.
The way forward for Oxfam should be obvious: progressive taxation, universal health and education and social protection schemes for informal workers. A 60% tax on the top 1% and a 2–5% annual wealth tax could pay for needed services and climate adaptation. But Pakistan’s ruling class would not stand for redistribution that cuts into their privileges.
A skyline of luxury towers has sprouted alongside thirsty neighbourhoods, and hundreds of thousands of bonded peasants in Sindh still toil for landlords fluent now in the language of “green growth”. This is modern slavery.
Pakistan’s misfortune isn’t scarcity but theft. Its forests, rivers and workers provide for the state but don’t have a voice at the table. If privilege is not disrupted, and public systems are not rebuilt, the nation will continue to be an economy of masters in designer suits served by slaves in rags.
Yet hope endures. Valuing education, healthcare and connectivity as public rights could begin to reverse the downward spiral. Climate justice begins at home: Stop pollution for profit and direct resources toward those rebuilding from ruin. The question is simple but determining: will Pakistan continue as a citadel of privilege or become a republic of equals?
The writer is an expert on climate change and sustainable development and the founder of the Clifton Urban Forest. He posts @masoodlohar and can be reached at: [email protected]
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer’s own and don’t necessarily reflect Geo.tv’s editorial policy.
Originally published in The News
Entertainment
Kate Middleton takes concrete steps to protect children including Archie, Lilibet
Future Queen Catherine has taken the signal from Prince William and King Charles – who have a firm plan setting the tone of their respective reigns – as she dives into a personal mission following her cancer battle.
Princess Kate, who is a doting mother to her three children, is cementing her legacy as she takes her learning from motherhood and other studies to accomplish the challenges that would come up for the children in the future.
The royal has been passionate about the upbringing of children especially during the early years of their life and hence started an organisation dedicated to it, Centre for Early Childhood.
As the world adapts to the digitisation of life, Kate is expressed her concerns about how it affects the children, a concern she shares with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle despite their differences and grievances.
Recently, she penned a moving essay regarding the study that emphasised the “power of human connection” in a “distracted” world. Royal author Sally Bedell Smith believes that the princess is “doing something concrete”.
“She is using the resources of her [Centre for Early Childhood] foundation to fund studies that are going to help identify the issues and where the insufficiencies are and find how parents can be helped, especially with these digital challenges that are overwhelming a lot of parents,” Sally wrote in her Substack.
Harvard University’s Professor Robert Waldinger, who co-wrote the essay with Kate, shared that this is her “signature issue, and she’s serious about it and doing her best to make a contribution”.
The initiative targets not just her children but also the ones living across the pond, including Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
The Sussexes had launched The Parents’ Network earlier this year to tackle the issue of online harm to the youth. They both have remained deeply involved in the issue —not only as advocates, listeners, but ultimately parents.
Meanwhile, Kate is continuing efforts for children to have loving environments where they can thrive.
“I thought her speech to the business leaders was very compelling and indicative of the depth that she has studied this issue, which means a great deal to her,” Sally shared.
Given Kate’s dedication to the work, she is hoping lending a voice to a subject considered “not glamorous” would get attention. Professor Robert suggests that it is “huge” and can make “incredible difference” by bringing in business with the platform she has.
Entertainment
Adam Peaty received devastating message before wedding to Holly Ramsay
Holly Ramsay and Adam Peaty finally said, ‘I do’ in an intimate ceremony at Bath Abbey, with Holly walking down the aisle on the arm of her celebrity father, Gordon Ramsay.
Holly, 25, who became engaged to the Olympic swimmer, 30, on September, 12, 2024, appeared nervous as she made her way through a chaotic crowd before heading down the aisle to exchange vows with her partner.
However, Adam’s parents were noticeably absent after a bitter family feud with his mother, Caroline, reportedly led to them being disinvited from the ceremony.
Adam’s mother, Caroline, was said to be ‘beside herself’ with grief at missing what should have been one of the happiest days of her life.
Speaking from the council house where Adam grew up, the 59–year–old told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I’m not going to be hurt like this again’.
She had told yesterday’s Daily Mail that she felt as if Holly and Adam ‘have cut my heart out.’

The media outlet also claimed that, moments before he walked into the abbey clutching the hand of his five–year–old son George, Adam Peaty was sent a devastating text message by his aunt Louise, who was also not invited to the wedding.
In it, she wrote: ‘I hope you never suffer the depth of pain you have put your mother through and despite it all she loves you still. Shame on you both. Shame.
‘Remember on this, your happiest day, and on each anniversary of your happiest day, that you hurt your mum so deeply her soul screams.’
From Adam’s side, his younger sister Bethany is the only member who believed to have remain close following the family fallout.
Entertainment
Perry Bamonte, guitarist for The Cure, dies after “short illness” at 65
Perry Archangelo Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboardist for the influential goth band The Cure, has died. He was 65.
The band announced his death on their official website on Friday.
“It is with enormous sadness that we confirm the death of our great friend and bandmate Perry Bamonte, who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas,” the band wrote.
“Quiet, intense, intuitive, constant and hugely creative, ‘Teddy’ was a warm hearted and vital part of The Cure story,” the statement continued. “Our thoughts and condolences are with all his family. He will be very greatly missed.”
Bamonte worked with the band in various roles from 1984 to 1989, including as a roadie and guitar tech. He officially joined the band in 1990, when keyboardist Roger O’Donnell quit. It was then that he became a full-time member of the group, playing guitar, six-string bass and keyboard.
Barry Brecheisen/WireImage
Having joined just after the band’s mainstream breakthrough, 1989’s “Disintegration,” Bamonte is featured on a number of The Cure’s albums, including 1992’s “Wish” – which features the career-defining hits ″Friday I’m in Love″ and “High” – as well as the 1996’s “Wild Mood Swings,” 2000’s “Bloodflowers” and 2004’s self-titled release.
Bamonte was fired from The Cure by its singer and leader, Robert Smith, in 2005. At that point, he had performed at over 400 shows across 14 years. Bamonte rejoined the group in recent years, touring with the band in 2022 for another 90 gigs.
In 2019, Bamonte was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame alongside the rest of The Cure. He joined The Cure on their North American tour in 2024 when the band reduced tickets to as low as $20 after pledging to make the shows affordable for fans following complaints about exorbitant fees. Lead singer Robert Smith said at the time he was “sickened” by the Ticketmaster fee debacle.
His last performance with the band was on Nov. 1, 2024 in London for a special one-off event to launch their latest album and first in 16 years, “Songs of a Lost World.” The concert was filmed for “The Cure: The Show of a Lost World,” a film released in cinemas globally this month. It is also available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD.
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