I’ve already shared my opinions on electoral reform, so I won’t bore you again, but Power 2010 is an organisation that I keep coming across. They had a hustings on reform in Luton this week. Find out more about them here, and sign the petition if you haven’t already.
Archive | April, 2010
Make Wealth History 2.0: a 2010 makeover
My brother Paul and I started Make Wealth History in April 2007, out of a sense of frustration at the injustices of the world and the lack of action around them. I was reading about climate change for the first time. Paul was reading about the arms trade. It seemed like there were so many [...]
In praise of libraries
I’m a big fan of libraries. They are one of those few public spaces that truly belong to the entire community. Drop into Luton’s central library and you’ll find school children downstairs, Sheik men reading the papers on the armchairs in the middle, students on the balconies above, and pensioners gathering upstairs for the afternoon [...]
Falling off the Edge, by Alex Perry
Alex Perry is a foreign correspondent who has travelled extensively in the developing world, reporting from across Africa and Asia. He is of that increasingly rare breed of journalists who believes in going and seeing things for yourself, a philosophy that has led him well off the beaten track. What he has found in the [...]
Last chance to join the Airplot
You may remember the Airplot, Greenpeace’s creative protest at the proposed Heathrow third runway. The scheme has seen over 85,000 people sign up to be registered owners of a plot of land right on the site of the planned development. If the government somehow circumvents the recent high court ruling on the runway and presses [...]
David Cameron has left the building, with a book recommendation
The leader of the Conservative party was in the building today, delivering a speech on ‘fixing the broken society’ in the church that’s attached to our office. The event was hosted by the Conservative think tank the Centre for Social Justice, and I dropped in to hear what he had to say. In brief, David [...]
Re-skill for farming with the BBC, and win your own farm
If you’ve ever thought about changing career and going into farming, here’s an invitation worth considering. The BBC are looking for couples to take part in a programme about farming in the UK. Participants will learn the skills needed to run a farm, including animal husbandry and handling machinery. As its a reality-tv style show, [...]
What we learned this week
WWF in Borneo are celebrating 123 newly discovered species since 2007, including a flying frog that can change colour. Honestly, children wouldn’t make that one up. Cows spend about eight hours a day meandering gently about. If they were walking on a treadmill instead of a field, thought one Irish farmer, you could use cows [...]
It’s our birthday
My brother Paul and I started Make Wealth History in April 2007. Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be taking stock, reviewing things and little, and giving the site a re-design. I’d like to highlight more of our three years’ worth of content, and we’ll be considering a new layout with more [...]
Megaslumming
There is an enduring fascination with Kibera, a district of Nairobi usually prefaced with the phrase ‘Africa’s largest slum’. ‘Slum’ has connotations of poverty and squalor, and that’s about it. I prefer the term ‘shanty town’, which seems to reflect the nature of Kibera a little better – a sprawling, unplanned settlement where people live [...]
Books
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