There’s an unusual experiment happening right now in Britain’s energy market. It’s being run by the online community activist network 38 Degrees and consumer group Which, in response to high energy prices. They are inviting people to club together to negotiate cheaper prices by mass bargaining. There’s an open market for energy in Britain. You [...]
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Write to your MEP about mining transparency
A few weeks ago I wrote about Tearfund’s Unearth the Truth campaign, which calls for transparency in the extractive industries in developing countries. Unless mining companies are forced to disclose how much they pay for mining rights, people have no way to keep the government accountable. Revenues from mining or drilling can vanish, and local [...]
Unearthing the truth about mining rights
After yesterday’s post on corruption at the micro level, I thought it might be interesting to look at it at the macro level. (Thanks to Ben for the suggestion.) Ipaidabribe works by getting lots of ordinary citizens to record the small bribes they have had to pay in the course of their everyday business. That’s [...]
I paid a bribe in Kenya
Growing up in Madagascar and Kenya, I became rather familiar with corruption. Demands for bribes crept into the most everyday of activities, from picking up parcels at the post office, to getting a prescription, or connecting a phone line to the house. Policemen would stop cars at random and tell the drivers their papers were [...]
People Fund.it
The second of today’s two new crowd-sourcing projects is PeopleFund.it, which aims to raise funds for innovative projects. If you’ve got a good idea, a small business or a community project, you can register it and invite people to chip in to make it happen. Users can then browse projects and contribute, donating as little [...]
Bernard the Gurnard says: support marine reserves
In 2009 the Marine Bill set the foundations in place for a series of marine reserves around Britain, but it didn’t create the reserves themselves. That work is ongoing, and it’s not progressing very fast. This week environment minister Richard Benyon announced that the decision on the 127 proposed sites has been delayed by six [...]
Land grabs: the unintended consequences of biofuels
Access to land is one of the oldest sources of conflict. It’s written deep into Britain’s history through the enclosure acts and the seizing of the commons – a process that shaped the landscape, drove people into the cities, and through the industrial revolution, changed the world forever. It’s an injustice that’s never been corrected, [...]
Fire your bank on November 5th
In Britain, the 5th of November is Guy Fawkes Night, which commemorates the failure of a plot to blow up the House of Parliament in 1605. It’s traditionally celebrated with fireworks, bonfires, and the burning in effigy of the aforementioned and rather unfortunate Mr Fawkes. Fawke’s other legacy is the Guy Fawke’s Mask, as drawn [...]
The end of polio
When I was a child in Madagascar, we used to walk through a little village on the way to school. There was a man in a wheelchair who used to sit out by the roadside, his legs shrivelled and twisted under him, stick-thin and useless. Polio, my mum told us – a terrible disease that [...]
The EU is subsidising illegal fishing
That’s the straight-forward message of this latest campaign video from Greenpeace, which highlights the fact that EU subsidy monies have found their way to fishing companies with a history of illegal activity. In one incidence, a Spanish company received €15 million between 20o2 and 2009, despite several of their crews being convicted for fishing without [...]
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