Today I discovered that I was homeless for much of my childhood. As you can imagine, this came as something of a surprise to me. As I was making the baby his breakfast and listening to the radio, I heard a discussion of government plans to cap the total sum of benefits that a family [...]
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Redefine wealth for global prosperity
“We can’t begin to tackle poverty without growth.” The words of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, speaking in the US last year. Since the fragile peace negotiated in 2003, Liberia has had steady economic growth at an average of 7% a year. If the country can continue to build, tackle corruption, increase access to education and [...]
Why Britain needs usury laws
The payday loan company Wonga.com is advertising aggressively at the moment. With the pressure of Christmas, many people might be tempted to bring forward their December paycheck by a few days to get some last-minute spending in. But you pay a high price for that advance: Wonga’s homepage declares a typical APR of 4214% Now, [...]
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 [...]
The 200 year wait for water and sanitation
The summer of 1858 as gone down in British history as the year of ‘the great stink’, when the Thames became so clogged with effluent that Parliament refused to sit because of the smell. It was the turning point for water and sanitation in London, and once the MPs had calmed down and straightened their [...]
Twin your toilet
Two toilet related links today, neither of them particularly serious, but it’s friday after all. First up is Toilet Twinning, an innovative way of raising funds for improving sanitation in poor countries. Around the UK, you often enter a town and find a sign declaring it to be a twin of some roughly equivalent place [...]
How much aid is good aid?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the distinction between useful aid and bad aid, prompted by Dambisa Moyo‘s critique of aid. But how much aid is good, and how much is detrimental? That’s a question answered by a new report from ActionAid (pdf). They reckon that out of $120 billion given in 2009, [...]
Can you help Make Lunch?
A few weeks ago the BBC screened a documentary called Poor Kids, about children growing up in poverty in the UK. It profiles the lives of several children, letting them tell their own stories to camera. It’s an eye opening programme, showing the realities of a childhood without heating in winter, without holidays, and where [...]
Why are there still famines in Africa?
According to the Disasters Emergency Committee, donations towards aid for Africa’s current famine are far below the totals raised for the Asian Tsunami, Haiti, or Pakistan, even though more people are affected. I wonder why. Is it bad timing, a disaster in the middle of an economic crisis, with people holding onto their cash? Is [...]
Saving lives
Guest post by Steve at Next Starfish Imagine you are walking to work and see a toddler flailing about in a pond, drowning. No one else is around to help. Without any risk to yourself you can easily wade in a few steps and pull the child to safety and save its life. Surely none [...]
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