Teaching is weird. You engage on quite an intense level with each year’s cohort of students, and then they fly the nest, and you hear very little about what happens next. Still less whether their studies actually helped (I’m still trying to work out whether my Physics degree has been a help or hindrance in grappling with the complexities of

Oxfam has a new paper out this week on how the IMF engages with civil society around the world. A bit process-y, I know, but this is good – based on a lot of serious case studies and coming up with the odd surprise (notably Ghana, highlighted below). My summary of the summary: ‘The International Monetary Fund (IMF or ‘the

Guest Post from Hugo Slim, Senior Research Fellow at the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford ‘Once again, humanitarians are bogged down in a moral predicament in Afghanistan. The extreme misogyny of Taliban policy is back and international humanitarian agencies should refuse to cooperate with it. The Taliban’s initial tolerance of gender equality in

Everyone ready? Ht Bryan Dawe Remembering Martin Ravallion, superstar analyst of poverty and inequality, who died just before Christmas. Memories and plaudits from his World Bank colleagues. In Effort to ‘Move the Needle,’ UN Chief Announces Special Summit on Climate Crisis ht Saleemul Huq Excellent overview of humanitarian policy issues: ‘What’s on our aid policy radar in 2023?’ The “deep

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Been catching up with my reading backlog over the Christmas break…. According to the publisher’s blurb ‘Africa 2.0 provides an important history of how two technologies – mobile calling and internet – were made available to millions of sub-Saharan Africans, and the impact they have had on their lives. The book deals with the political challenges of liberalisation and privatisation

As well as the headlines, First Edition, the Guardian’s excellent daily news summary (free subscription here), includes an in-depth conversation between the editor and one of its specialist journalists. Yesterday’s, with environment correspondent Damien Gayle, was on ‘Extinction Rebellion’s New Year’s Day statement, which led with the headline-grabbing phrase “we quit”’. Not true, apparently. Here’s the Guardian’s analysis: ‘This is

Hi there, hope you had a good break (if you took one). Mine was great – highlights included sorting out the spice cupboard and watching lots of really crap TV. Life in the fast lane eh? Everyone else did their top blogs of 2022 before Christmas, but I’m coming in a bit late with mine to kick off 2023. In

Superb. Most popular New Yorker cartoons of the year. Treat yourself for a few minutes. The best African films of 2022 – some of these look great. The art of influencing: how to maximize impact in a complex, interconnected world Wall Of Kindness in Stockholm – “take a coat if you need it or leave one if you have a

Guest post from Jonathan Glennie, cofounder of Global Nation, a thinktank, and author of The Future of Aid: Global Public Investment As we approach Christmas our thoughts naturally turn to the coming of a saviour. No, not Jesus. Bob Geldof. I actually like Bob Geldof. At least he bothered. While many will see him as the epitome of arrogant world-saving

Ok, it’s a bit late, but if you’re stumped for a Christmas present for an intellectually curious friend or relative, I’ve got a top recommendation. Ha-Joon Chang’s latest book, Edible Economics, is a (Christmas) cracker. Full disclosure: Ha-Joon is an old and good friend. Since we first met in the late 1990s, when he was writing Kicking Away the Ladder,

Harry Potter’s characters, if written by Dostoevsky ht Andrey Mir Calling all social change leaders! Start your journey now by applying to the fully-funded Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme at LSE Inequalities Institute. Applications by 5pm GMT on 12 January 2023. Unhinged and disturbing ad for roller skating, c/o Hayley Clarkin Believing the risks of mismanagement, corruption,