Category Archives: Africa

Layla and other assorted love songs from Fez

. . . from the opening shimmering, evocative western and Arab strings followed by an extraordinary tympani high on the ramparts by a slip of a girl knocking seven mighty shades out of a colossal tambour. I was hooked from that moment on.

Where's Gordon Brown in the Libyan desert storm?

Over the past three days, as the Lockerbie ‘terrorist’ release turns into a full-blown international incident, we have heard not one word, or even a Twitter, from the man who saved the wurreld (and its banks). This is highly unusual; Gordon and his wife Sarah Twittered from Inverkilliecrankie, or wherever they are on holiday, catching [...]

Hyena men and Ethiopian young entrepreneurs

A couple of months ago I went to Eastern Ethiopia with my friend Simon Biltcliffe. It was mind-altering in many ways, not least because we travelled from London to the eastern region, near(ish) to the Somalian border and back to London in four days. Economy all the way, I might add. We landed in the [...]

European Court rules UK DNA database an abuse of Human Rights

By John J Kelly On December 4 2008 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the practice of holding  DNA samples of more than 1 million UK citizens, some as young as 10 years old, who have no criminal record but who have been investigated in the course of police enquiries, is contrary to Article [...]

The spoils of famine

Thanks to Jack Roberts of Big Idea and the Herald Sun for pointing out that Saint Bob Geldof charged $100,000 to speak in Australia recently about ‘the tragedy of world famine.’ Guests weren’t told that it was a paid gig, by no means the first, for Geldof, friend of the man who has done a [...]

Ahoy there me hearties…

Pirates are suddenly everywhere: Indian Navy sinks Pirate Ship, Somali Pirates Hijack Saudi Oil Tanker: Cadbury’s Old Jamaica chocolate bar futures are set to surge. Why the sudden interest? Piracy is not new. Nor is this revival of interest so ephemeral either. We have had quite a few Pirates of the Caribbean to contend with [...]

Human capital is only useful if you don't break the bank

The mantra of the Third Way seems to be about “capabilities”. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband pontificated in The New Statesman that this it is about creating an “I can” society. But what exactly is the point of all this? Coming from a Development background, it took me a while to realise that all politics, [...]