The Looking Glass

 Benjamin Holden L6G 

  What is going on in IRAQ …IRAN? In the early hours of Sunday morning (BST), US President Donald Trump announced to the world on social media that a series of US bomber strikes (namely B-2 bombers with the capacity to drop ‘bunker buster’ bombs that are capable of penetrating the underground Uranium enrichment site of Fordow) had taken place on three ‘key’ sites in Iran.  This is perhaps the defining moment of Trump's turbulent yet still youthful premiership.  Iran is  currently under the regime commanded by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (aged 86). The regime that operates in Iran is unquestionably unpopular with the Iranian populus as indicated in polls which suggest that up to 80% of people would support the overthrow of the regime though these are hard to verify given the strictly regulated nature of journalism in Iran. The Revolutionary Guard (founded in the aftermath of the Iranian revolution of 1978) operate the oppressive regime that is notorious for its lack of rig...

  Netflix:   A pandemic vogue or here to linger?  Over the past few years, most evidently during the pandemic when many of us bought subscriptions while at home, the streaming company Netflix has seen dramatic shifts in the nature of it's subscription services. However, after all these years of stratospheric increase, there are signs of a plateau in Netflix’s growth, as less people remain at home. A History of Netflix Although now a mega-streaming service, Netflix used to work with a different process in it's early days. Prior to their shift to streaming, the founders, Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings, ran the business by mailing up-and-coming DVDs of shows to their subscribers. It had the benefit over rival companies such as Blockbuster, as there were neither due dates, nor huge late fees, which made the prospect a more attractive one for people looking for a subscription. It came in at a cost of $19.95 a month, a hefty price, but one in which you could get access to unl...

  Josiah Dunn May 22nd 2009. A programmer purchases two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin. This is the first commercial use of Bitcoins and marks the beginning of a financial revolution. Now those 10,000 Bitcoins are worth billions, a testament to the incredible potential of cryptocurrencies. May 22nd 2029. Twenty years on, in a bustling street market, sellers and buyers from all over the world trade goods without a central currency and use their digital wallets to transfer digital value instantly and securely. As impossible as this sounds, it is becoming a reality as cryptocurrencies challenge traditional banking by removing intermediaries and reducing costs. Decentralisation is a core part of cryptocurrencies, differentiating them from traditional financial systems that rely on central authorities like banks and governments. By operating on blockchain networks, cryptocurrencies eliminate intermediaries, allowing individuals to conduct transactions directly with one another. This peer-to-...

Rishabh Sidana Year 12 In an ever-evolving modern economy, cryptocurrencies appear to have been the epicentre of this transition to the digital realm since the conception of Bitcoin in 2009. Their existence, however, has been one subjected to swathes of fluctuations over the years, from Bitcoin’s meteoric rise of 416% in 2020 ( Binance, 2024 ), to widespread criticism of their handling during the FTX collapse. On one side the sceptical, among whom are Nobel Laureate Robert Merton ( PBS, 2018 ), and JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon ( CNBC, 2024 ); they emphasise the illegitimacy of cryptocurrencies, with Merton discussing how their decentralised nature disqualifies them from being legal tender, one of the fundamental criteria of any currency. On the other are the advocates, among whom is former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who argues that Bitcoin’s decentralisation enables it to overcome the barrier of borders, hence permitting for globalised liquidity. This essay aims to explore the intr...