
September 25, 2023
Theyâve got a point Twitter spirals on downward under Musk: âMusk says X will charge everyone to use the platformâ. As a firm believer in Open Access, if twitter goes gated, I’m out – v upsetting given what a good experience it’s been up to now. If/when it happens, guess Iâll switch to Linked In for most interactions, so do
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Development Nutshell podcast. 22m roundup of posts for w/b 11th and 18th September
September 23, 2023
No excerpt
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Book Review: Power and Progress. Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity
September 14, 2023
I started reading Power and Progress in a fairly sceptical frame of mind, because I didnât much like Why Nations Fail. But it won me over in the end, especially the final chapter on what to do about the current tech clusterfxck of AI, filter bubbles, mis- and disinformation, gig economy exploitation etc etc. Main message: Since roughly 1980, something
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Links I Liked
September 12, 2023
Did you have a relaxing summer holidays? Academic version. Ht PHDComics Often talk to my students about finding the right messenger for your campaign, not just focussing on the message. Hereâs a nice Oxfam example: Millionaires (yes, really), economists, and eminent politicians implore the G20 to âtax the super-richâ. In an open letter, they call for a new international agreement
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Podcast. 24m roundup of posts for w/b 28th August and 4th September
September 9, 2023
Links I LikedWho Decides What Constitutes âKnowledgeâ on Climate Change?Links I LikedThe World Order Seems to be in Turmoil â Whatâs Going on?How more Open Government can bolster USAIDâs Localization AgendaÂ
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Links I Liked
September 4, 2023
Striking opinion poll in West Africa covered in The Economist, showing a high level of support for the Niger coup, and huge differences over trust in Russia (former colonial powers come out v badly). What can harnessing ‘positive deviance’ methods do for food security? Nice example from Niger (pre-coup) by Katrina Lane This is what the Internet is for: Adam
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Links I Liked
August 29, 2023
The FTâs John Burn Murdoch doing his amazing data thing again, this time to show just how bad urban transport is in the UK. This is so sad. I really love the India Club, right opposite LSE and now itâs closing because the landlord wants to cash in. Bah! Can AI help with the heavy lifting of research communications? Some
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Development Nutshell (22m). Audio roundup of blogs for w/b 14th and 21st August on From Poverty to Power
August 26, 2023
Top Student Blogs and Vlogs from my LSE Activism course: Valerie Barki: Are you #ManEnoughToSnip? Jessica Louise: Thereâs a chicken in the desert! Martin Caforio: Green to Go: The Better Way to Take Away Vlogs from Carlota Lopez, Debra Francis and Holly Ingram AÂ historic global agreement on tax is under threat. Hereâs why. Amazing new Resource Guide on Humanitarianism
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Amazing new Resource Guide on Humanitarianism
August 23, 2023
Woah, if youâre even slightly interested in knowing more about the world of humanitarian response, check out the new ALNAP Learning Links | Free academic resources and teaching tools for humanitarian courses and programmes. Hereâs the blurb: âALNAP is the global network for advancing humanitarian learning. We want to provide future generations of humanitarians with unfettered access to our very best
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A historic global agreement on tax is under threat. Hereâs why.
August 22, 2023
This post by Farida Bena was originally published on the Kiliza website Every year, an estimated USD 312 billion are lost in unpaid corporate taxes around the world. By using legal loopholes, many companies avoid paying their dues â often to Southern countries that host their operations and provide cheap labour. This happens because the governments of those countries are unable to
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Some top Student vlogs from this year’s LSE class on Activism
August 17, 2023
I’m posting some of the best work from this year’s LSE activism students this week. They have the option to do a vlog, rather than a blog, and here are three by (in order) Carlota Lopez (ramoslopezcarlota@gmail.com), Debra Francis (debra.e.francis@gmail.com) and Holly Ingram (holly@theingramfamily.org) â emails included in case you want to ask them for their strategy and/or offer them
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Top Student blogs: Green to Go: The Better Way to Take Away
August 16, 2023
I’m posting some of the best work from this year’s LSE activism students this week. Here’s Martin Caforio (mcaforio@icloud.com if you want to see his full campaign strategy and/or offer him a job) introducing his campaign. When you get a daily coffee, your local chain tells you the cup is âsustainable.â Recyclable plastic, compostable, responsibly sourced and produced. But even
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