Hi everyone, I’m back from hols and tweeting happily, but there’s been a few glitches on the blog still (mainly on the comments) – apologies for that. Hopefully they’re fixed now, but please let me know if you’re having problems. On with the show.
I’m no great football/soccer fan, and don’t really understand what’s going on on the pitch (although I share today’s morning-after hollow ache), but the politics have been fascinating, and very positive.
England and Southgate stop divisive politicians hijacking Euro 2020 success
England manager Gareth Southgate’s letter to the fans on football, racism and taking a stand is truly brilliant and should be part of the legacy of this summer. Do please read it if you haven’t already.
LSE’s Anna D’Alton has turned our great series of guru guest lectures from earlier this year into a new podcast series. First up: Jayati Ghosh ‘what can we learn from the Indian government’s response to the pandemic?’ Listen on Spotify & other sites here & SoundCloud here. Podcasts will come as standard on this autumn’s series, which we’re kicking off with Ha-Joon Chang on the politics of ‘Parasite’ – cool eh?
Aid reform’s new leader: A Q&A with Jan Egeland. Longread with some important insights. And he almost made the Grand Bargain sound interesting!
But more grim news on Covid, beyond the double jab bubble.
“Covax was a beautiful idea, born out of solidarity. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen… Rich countries behaved worse than anyone’s worst nightmares.” – The Lancet’s Cover says it all. Ht Sony Kapoor
Even apart from the super-spreader potential of sport (Euros, Olympics, Lions tour of S Africa), my initial fears that Covid (like HIV/AIDS) could start in the North and end up in the South may be borne out. ‘In Uganda more than 200 MPs & parliamentary staff have tested positive in the past few weeks. As of February, Africa accounted for 17 of the 24 government ministers or heads of state who are reported to have died from C-19.’ (The Economist). Plus a very nasty 3rd wave breaking in South Africa.
Thought (and controversy) provoking attempt by Branko Milanovic to pin down what constitutes progressiveness. Expect fireworks.
An oldie but goodie – The Alinsky Rules from ‘Rules for Radicals’ ht Simon Maxwell