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I started reading Power and Progress in a fairly sceptical frame of mind, because I didn’t 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

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. Here’s a nice Oxfam example: Millionaires (yes, really), economists, and eminent politicians implore the G20 to “tax the super-rich”. In an open letter, they call for a new international agreement

Links I LikedWho Decides What Constitutes ‘Knowledge’ on Climate Change?Links I LikedThe World Order Seems to be in Turmoil – What’s Going on?How more Open Government can bolster USAID’s Localization Agenda 

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

The FT’s 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 it’s closing because the landlord wants to cash in. Bah! Can AI help with the heavy lifting of research communications? Some

Top Student Blogs and Vlogs from my LSE Activism course:  Valerie Barki: Are you #ManEnoughToSnip? Jessica Louise: There’s 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 A historic global agreement on tax is under threat. Here’s why. Amazing new Resource Guide on Humanitarianism

Woah, if you’re 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. Here’s the blurb:  ‘ALNAP is the global network for advancing humanitarian learning. We want to provide future generations of humanitarians with unfettered access to our very best

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 – often to Southern countries that host their operations and provide cheap labour. This happens because the governments of those countries are unable to

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) – emails included in case you want to ask them for their strategy and/or offer them

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 “sustainable.” Recyclable plastic, compostable, responsibly sourced and produced. But even

Desperately trying to get through this week’s posts before going on holiday, while also looking after my son’s hyperactive spaniel. And here’s a bonus pic of the pooch in question