Highlights

Commentators wringing their hands over the state of international affairs these days are fond of quoting (and mangling) the Italian intellectual and philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s famous quotation from a different era: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety […]

SINGAPORE: In Singapore, much has been said about the need to break away from an education “arms race”. This was reiterated by Education Minister Desmond Lee in parliament this month, when he cautioned that a fixation on grades can pit children against one another, diminish their joy of learning and crowd out character-building. Mr Lee’s […]

Recently, at the Festival of Innovation organised by GovInsider here, the question was posed: What difference would it make if women had a greater part in designing and running the digital systems that govern our lives? The answer: That infrastructure would be centred around the principles of empathy, agency and resilience, and recognise that relationships […]

Held on the 10 February 2026, the second S R Nathan Fellowship Young Leaders Seminar, titled “Giving Voice to a Silent Epidemic: Transforming Youth Mental Health in Singapore”, featured a keynote speech by Dr Rayner Tan, Assistant Professor at Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore. Drawing on national studies and […]

In his second IPS-Nathan Lecture, Mr Piyush Gupta examined how digital technologies and new players are reshaping finance, and how Singapore has sought to manage the resulting risks while sustaining innovation. Building on his first lecture on stability, trust and innovation, he argued that the same balancing act now underpins Singapore’s ambition to be a […]

In his first lecture, Mr Piyush Gupta reflected on how Singapore, an “unlikely” financial centre without the large domestic engines typical of New York or London, transformed into a world-class hub by balancing stability, trust and innovation. He argued that this balancing act has been central to Singapore’s success and will become even more critical […]

SINGAPORE: More than half of children aged two to six are exceeding recommended daily screen time limits, according to a recent survey by the Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI). For many parents, this finding strikes uncomfortably close to home and heightens anxieties about the excessive dependence young people have on their devices. But […]

At this year’s National Day Rally, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong made an important and  striking intervention in the debate on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Singapore’s Smart Nation future. Learning, he stressed, is not just about mastering technology but about cultivating “the human qualities that machines cannot replicate – character, values, empathy and a sense of purpose.” […]

Here’s a scenario that will be familiar to anyone teaching in higher education today. You’ve structured your course around take-home essays—those extended assignments that allow students to wrestle with complex ideas, consult multiple sources, and craft thoughtful arguments. Then along comes ChatGPT, and suddenly half your class can deliver a passable essay on Kantian ethics or the […]

As a newly minted father with a “SG60 baby”, I listened to the discussions at the SG60 conference with both trepidation and hope. Everything about Singapore is changing. Yet, amid the sweeping uncertainties of the future, offers a distinctive value proposition to the world: a model of quiet, consistent functionality. In the opening dialogue, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong outlined this idea of ordinariness. […]