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Articles by Richard Clark
Who pays for the data cloud? That’s one of the key questions swirling around data centers. [column]
Artificial intelligence may live in “the cloud,” but the cloud has a physical address. It occupies land. It draws electricity around the clock — and lots of it. It may consume large quantities of water. It requires transmission lines, substations, cooling equipment, backup generators and roads. It produces noise, heat, emissions and, eventually, enormous quantities of obsolete electronic equipment. That makes the data center question much larger than whether we favor artificial intelligence.
Artificial intelligence can be a boon rather than a menace, but it needs guardrails [column]
Artificial intelligence is moving so quickly that even some of the people building the most powerful systems are now asking whether we are moving too fast. Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wrote that “we must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models,” arguing not for a halt to progress but for enough time to let safety measures catch up.
Open Finance Meets Mortgages: The FCA Sets Out Its Vision – But The Hard Work Starts Now
The FCA's Mortgages and Open Finance Policy Sprint explored what would need to be true for open finance to improve mortgage journeys in practice. The two-day sprint, held on 8 and 9 June 2026, brought together around 80 stakeholders and experts from across industry, including banks and building societies, fintechs, third-party providers, credit reference agencies, property experts, trade bodies, academia and consumer organisations.
Reflections on war and peace — when will we ever learn? [column]
Reflections on war and peace — when will we ever learn? Why, in this modern, supposedly enlightened age, do human beings still have such a propensity for war? We live on what astronomer Carl Sagan called “a pale blue dot”: a tiny, fragile world suspended in an incomprehensibly vast universe. Everything we have ever loved, built, discovered, fought over or dreamed about is here. As far as we know, this is our only life-bearing sanctuary in the cosmos. Yet we behave as though it were disposable.
Global Governance Under Fire: How International Organizations Resist the Populist Wave
In this deeply researched study, Carnegie and Clark explore the ways that multilateral institutions are fighting back against the assaults of their populist, nationalist detractors. Populist leaders employ various tactics against international organizations, including skipping meetings, withholding funds, and withdrawing altogether. In other cases, populists stay within institutions and disrupt them from the inside, as Viktor Orban did within the European Union as Hungary’s prime minister.
Trump budget cuts to science would be a disaster for Lancaster County farmers and all of us [column]
For generations, Americans of all political persuasions understood the fundamental importance of science in shaping U.S. prominence in nearly every aspect of our lives. Just as roads, bridges, electrical grids and water systems support the nation’s economy, scientific institutions support the knowledge infrastructure that drives innovation, strengthens national security, protects public health, improves weather forecasting, advances agriculture and powers economic growth.
We know how to stop measles in Lancaster [column]
For most Americans under the age of 50, measles sounds like a disease from another era. Many of us have never seen a case. That is precisely why it is easy to underestimate. Unfortunately, measles is no longer a distant concern. It is here, now, in Lancaster County. The Pennsylvania Department of Health has confirmed multiple measles cases in Lancaster County during 2026, including a growing outbreak that has spread to neighboring counties.
The Trump administration again seeks to decimate scientific research [column]
What is being done to the National Science Board is institutional vandalism. President Donald Trump fired all 22 members of the board April 24. As Science magazine reported, the National Science Board has statutory authority to oversee the actions of the $9 billion National Science Foundation, “setting policy and approving large expenditures.” Board members are “typically prominent academics and industry leaders” appointed to serve staggered six-year terms.
Questions goals in US attacks on Iran
Letter to the Editor Apr 13, 2026 Here is a letter I sent U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet, on March 9 through his Congressional portal. Congressman Bergman, The Trump administration’s multiple tariffs, threats to annex Greenland and Canada, attacks on Venezuela purportedly for drug trafficking, while pardoning a former Honduran president/drug kingpin, are baffling. The administration’s policies align more with the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland” than a great nation.
An American in Iran: Personal perspective of Iranian people, culture, history [column]
I did not come to know Iran through think tanks, cable news or the rhetoric of governments. I came to know it through family and personal experience. My connection to Iran is through my wife, who grew up in Tehran until she was 16 years old. During the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, her parents made the painful decision to send her to the United States, changing the course of her life. She has now lived in this country for 40 years; she’s been a U.S. citizen for 25 years. America is home.
Despite EPA decision on emissions regulation, you can’t fool Mother Nature [column]
In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued what became known as the “endangerment finding,” concluding that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare under the Clean Air Act. That determination was not symbolic. It rested on decades of scientific evidence showing that carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and related gases alter the Earth’s energy balance in measurable ways. Rescinding the finding was not a routine regulatory revision.
With climate change, we must reject distractions of fatalism and denialism [column]
Every so often, a headline declares that climate change will end humanity — that we are on the brink of global collapse, that our children may not have a future, that the planet is barreling toward unlivable conditions. These claims spread quickly because fear spreads quickly. But fear is not the same thing as understanding, and panic is not the same thing as action.
Answers sought on US attacks
The following is a letter I submitted to U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman on Oct. 19. Since then, four more unarmed boats have been attacked. U.S. forces have attacked and sunk six unarmed boats, which the Defense Department identified as Venezuelan drug traffickers heading to the U.S. However, the department provided no evidence to support this claim. Trinidadians claim that one of the boats was fishing, and their relative, Joseph, tragically lost his life in the incident.
Calling on Bergman to investigate judge
This letter was sent to U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman, R-Watersmeet: Lawyers from the administration are accused of lying to judges in court. You must investigate and, if necessary, impeach a recently appointed circuit judge. A Department of Justice lawyer was fired after he told a judge the truth about a case he was handling. The April 15, 2025, Wall Street Journal reported that a deputy attorney general suspended Erez Reuveni for not following department orders.
Draconian cuts to scientific research in the United States could be catastrophic [column]
The Great Hall dome of the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., bears the following inscription: “To science, pilot of industry, conqueror of disease, multiplier of the harvest, explorer of the universe, revealer of nature’s laws, eternal guide to truth.” The scientific enterprise has long been a cornerstone of American strength — fueling public health breakthroughs, underpinning technological innovation and bolstering national security.
Gutting of federal agency could harm Lancaster's North Museum - and STEM education [column]
I write to articulate my deep concern regarding the recent executive order targeting the Institute of Museum and Library Services. You may not have heard of this federal agency before.
Multilateralism Can Survive Trump
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has made his disdain for the United States’ international commitments abundantly clear. Throughout his first term, he condemned multilateral institutions and railed against what he depicted as an unaccountable, “globalist” elite. He withdrew from key agreements, such as the Paris climate accord, and disengaged from organizations that form the backbone of the liberal international order.
Countdown for mortgage prisoners as Consumer Duty hits closed products on 31 July - Clark
The new Consumer Duty (the Duty) for closed products and services is due to come into effect on 31 July 2024, meaning both outright acquirers and servicers of closed regulated mortgage portfolios will need to comply with the new, higher standards of consumer protection that the Duty introduces. This requires firms to continually review whether their products offer fair value to customers in respect of their financial objectives.
Consumer Duty: Guidance and implementation for closed products
In November 2023, the FCA’s Director of Cross Cutting Policy said that the Consumer Duty was “not a once and done exercise”. The FCA have highlighted several examples of how they are using the Duty on their website. As focus shifts to the implementation of the Duty in respect of closed book products the FCA has undertaken a review of implementation to date.
The World Bank and IMF say they'll do more to address climate change
Climate change was at the fore of last week's International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington, D.C. Protesters gathered outside the meetings to demand that the two preeminent international financial institutions take urgent action on climate change. Inside the meetings, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced the launch of the new Resilience and Sustainability Trust to help the world's most vulnerable countries manage long-term challenges like climate change.
The World Bank and IMF Can Help Tackle the Global Cost-of-Living Crisis
Inflation has become a core concern and ubiquitous buzzword across the globe in recent months, with prices of consumer goods surging due to supply and demand shocks, mostly related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. The consumer price index—a measure of a country’s average level of prices based on the cost of a typical basket of consumer goods—has increased 8.5 percent in the United States since the beginning of 2022.
Off-the-plan development risks – Significant win for purchasers in recent Victorian Supreme Court case
Developers beware: A change less than 5% of the overall area of a lot isn’t a material change, right? Developers need to tread carefully. Changes to a plan of subdivision creating a nook in a bedroom entrance, a reduction of the size of one room and conversion of common property to a council reserve have just been held by the Victorian Supreme Court to be separate material changes in their own right.
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