[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJHFXenOPi4[/youtube]
David Steven
Rio +20: ‘involving civil society’ (and squirrels)
They are from a few months' ago, but I've been looking at the consolidated comments from 'civil society or stakeholder sectors' to the Rio+ 20 outcome...
Chill Out: Why Cooperation is Balancing Conflict Among Major Powers in the New Arctic
This report addresses the Arctic’s growing strategic relevance and conflict dynamic; offers background on, and assessment of, the existing institutions, and examines ongoing risks. Ultimately, the report concludes that the prospects for cooperation outstrip the potential for conflict, and that the Arctic offers lessons for tackling evolving challenges in other regions.
Best of Times, Worst of Times
An edited and expanded version of talk given to the ‘Lessons from the Economic Troubles’ panel at an international workshop on systemic lessons from the global economic crisis, hosted by the Global Futures Forum.
Open Letter to the Co-Chairs of the UN High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Agenda
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced on Wednesday that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and British...
After the MDGs – avoiding the curse of the sequel
As David Cameron prepares to chair the High Level Panel charged with designing a successor to the Millennium Development Goals, he should be in no doubt that...
Tweeting Ambassadors and Paintballing with Hezbollah
Almost ten years ago, I had my first adventure with blogging at the World Summit on Sustainable Development - where I ran what was probably the world's first...
Obama, Cameron, Churchill, and the Right-Wing Echo Chamber
Our friends at National Review's The Corner - America's foremost Conservative group blog - were devastated on Britain's behalf at the disrespect Barack Obama...
Is Oil a Bubble?
With Brent bumping up against the $125 mark and petrol/gasoline prices at record highs, many commentators are once again assuming that high prices are the new...
Newt Gingrich’s Declaration of Energy Independence – Beyond Peak Oil
Newt Gingrich has just released a half-hour lecture on US energy policy. [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOImnCrKPZ8[/youtube] To say, the ex-speaker...
Heartland: Hacked Off (updated)
I am hacked off by almost everything about the breathless exposé of Heartland's (purported) internal strategic documents. Here's Think Progress's measured...
Agenda 21 is Evil
The Agenda 21 conspiracy theory is back in the media, thanks to a New York Times report on Tea Party opposition to bike lanes, smart meters, public parks and...
Seriously?
William Hague's (alleged) advice to David Cameron ahead of the euro summit: If it’s a choice between keeping the euro together or keeping the Conservative...
Britain and Europe after the veto
What a day. Five observations: My initial reaction this morning: On a sinking Titanic, the UK is lobbying to avoid further damage to the iceberg. If David...
Newt Gingrich – climate change hero
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYv9yd3_3HA[/youtube] I can see why the world is warming to Newt. He talks a lot of sense on climate change. My...
Balls the new Brown
Remember how Gordon Brown used the Treasury to keep the rest of the Cabinet on a short leash? Seems like Ed Balls is up to the same trick: It’s almost cliched...
How close is the UK to the edge? (updated)
In his autumn statement, George Osborne warned that, without his programme of fiscal consolidation, “Britain would have borrowed an additional hundred billion...
Mortgage subsidies – it’s not the young who win
"It is disappointing that the country cannot liberate itself from the desire to subsidise borrowing to finance house purchases," complains Martin Wolf in his...
Office of Budget Responsibility – laughing stock
I remember being astonished by the rose-tinted specs donned by the UK's Office of Budget Responsibility ("independent and authoritative analysis of the UK’s...
Daily Mail in love with Human Rights Act
Back in 2007, Paul Dacre - editor of the Daily Mail - told a House of Lords Select Committee "in the editorial line and in terms of the leader column, we are...
More from Global Dashboard
A Blueprint for Black Lives Matter in the Development Sector
Over the past few weeks – in the wake of COVID-19 and the killing of George Floyd – we have seen development, aid, and humanitarian institutions try to respond more effectively to racism. Racism is rooted in a combination of prejudice and power, and action to combat...
COVID-19 – Five lessons for improving future economic and social resilience
The COVID-19 crisis is another timely reminder of the need for building resilience into our social, economic, and financial systems – locally, nationally, and globally. COVID-19 demonstrates the extent of globally inter-linked systems of trade and finance, and reveals...
Love, Inequity, and Development Policy in a COVID-era?
All COVID-response pieces begin with a tumbling wave of “blah crisis blah opportunity blah uncertainty”. We don’t know enough to know enough. Just hold on until we get the facts. Competing scenarios. Duelling facts. Whatever your flavour – please assume that’s true of...