Posts Tagged ‘Africa

Anyone looking for a graphic illustration of the one-sidedness of attacks on banks and tax havens would do well to watch a new documentary. The UK Gold, written and directed by Mark Donne, presents itself as an erudite and well-informed but is essentially an old-fashioned conspiracy theory. Its most striking feature is its habit of […]

This Perspective column was first published in Monday’s edition of Fund Strategy. Substantial rises in food prices tend to bring out the worst in today’s generally green-tinged market pundits. Typically they issue doom-mongering warnings about the dangers of rising population and greater prosperity before advising investors how to take advantage of the situation. This is […]

A wry video short by Bold Futures in Berlin taking a dig at those who romanticise African poverty. Click HERE to view.

What resource curse?, Foreign Policy, by Charles Kenny. A development economist argues against the idea that the discovery of resource wealth is a “curse” for the country involved. New mission for US military: break its dependence on oil, Yale Environment 360, by Louis Peck. The American military is investigating ways to conserve energy and develop […]

Africa needs growth, not pity and big plans, Wall Street Journal, by Matt Ridley. Africa needs aid, not flawed theories, Wall Street Journal, by Bill Gates. Ridley and Gates debate the problems of Africa and climate change. Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, by […]

Some useful recent reports – all to be taken critically. From austerity to prosperity: Seven priorities for the long term. McKinsey. New times, new connections: civil society action on climate change, Green Alliance, by Faye Scott. The State of African Cities 2010: Governance, Inequalities and Urban Land Markets, UN-Habitat. World Energy Outlook 2010. International Energy […]

Me human, you chimp, spiked, by Tim Black. Review of Helene Guldburg’s seminal Just Another Ape? The greening of Godzilla, American Interest Online, Walter Russell Mead’s blog. On the apparent shift of environmentalists from being against science to being its most avid supporter. Grow your own, Culture Wars, by Karl Sharro. A critique of the […]

Africa Calling: Can mobile phones make a miracle?, by Jenny C Aker and Issac M Mbiti. Boston Review. Floating golf course where you can really sink a putt, by Judith Evans, Times (London). Also Seasteading: the great escape, by Eamon Fingleton, Prospect. [Floating islands as a way of adapting to climate change]. It’s time the […]

Part one of an interesting critique of the New Economics Foundation’s Growth Isn’t Possible by Matthew Lockwood of the Institute for Public Policy Research, an influential British think thank. I look forward to seeing part two. Back on 6 April 2007 I wrote a short critical blog post on Lockwood’s apparently radical views on Africa.

In the three and a half years I have written this blog I have come across many vile stories on growth sceptic themes. But this one from the BBC, one of the world’s most prestigious news organisations, is a contender for title of the worst ever. According to a BBC news report rising prosperity is […]