Loliondo and the Shiek
The A marks Loliondo, a Maasai village in northern Tanzania. I have written about the Maasai before, on this blog in The Wheat Field, and in African publications in the…
development
Big Pharma Cashing In On Global South Vaccination?
The Graun: Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), the Nobel prize-winning organisation working on the frontline in remote and conflict areas, says vaccines bought with UK and other donor governments’ money cost…
Canada Is R&D-ing A Decline, With Graphs
In 2006 Canada was spending 2% of its Gross Domestic Product on R&D. In 2012 it will spend just 1.69%. While a large portion of the decline is due to…
A Conservative Canada Is An Uncompetitive One
It’s odd that Conservatives advocate competition in the economy when under this Conservative government our economy has only become less competitive. The World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently lowered Canada’s…
Happy Crashiversary! Are you better off now than you were four years ago?
Four years after Lehman Brothers collapsed, it’s time to take stock of things by asking a stock political question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago?…
Canadians: Farewell, Bev Oda!
Disgraced ex-Durham MP, Bev Oda, begins her private life today, after a scandalous public life defined by profligacy, scandal, inefficiency and controversy. Canadians offer their final word on the former…
So Long, Bev Oda! Please Stay Away From The Canadian Senate
Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minister of international co-operation, Bev Oda, officially retires today. A sigh of relief! What a financial burden to the Canadian taxpayer the Conservative MP for the…
Mobile Devices for Development
The use of mobiles in development is nothing new; however, it’s always good to remind ourselves how useful this technology can be. Mashable has a list of five reasons mobile…
Meilinomics II: Income from Within
The following is another excerpt from Dr. Ryan Meili’s new book, A Healthy Society: How a Focus on Health Can Revive Canadian Democracy, which fellow blogger Greg Fingas has been…
Infographic Weekend: Where does US Food Aid go?
The United States is doing it’s best to feed the world … or at least that’s what they’d like you to believe. US Food Aid may be more effective as…
TED Talk Thursday: Muhammad Yunus on Social Businesses
I love Professor Yunus’s advice – “Whatever the banks did, I did the opposite. And it worked!” Prof. Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank,…
The Cost of Conservative Religious Hegemony
How much would you give to protect your own religious freedom? Probably a lot, from money, to political action, to perhaps your life. I suspect you would give comparably to…
The economy lab, the dark age of free trade theory, and the naive view on natural resources and economic development
Over at the Economy Lab in the Globe which Failed, which itself has gone from bad to worse, one of the economists they keep in their stable has either produced…
A without prejudice rejoinder to the Minister of Finance
On Wednesday of last week the Minister of Finance for Newfoundland and Labrador Thomas Marshall was interviewed by CBC Central Morning about a report I did for the Newfoundland and…
Interview on CBC Central Morning
CBC Radio Central Newfoundland Morning aired an interview they did with me about inequality and the future of development in Newfoundland and Labrador. The pod cast can be found here.…
Interview on CBC Central Morning
CBC Radio Central Newfoundland Morning aired an interview they did with me about inequality and the future of development in Newfoundland and Labrador. The pod cast can be found here.…
Occupy Movement: Inequality in Newfoundland and Labrador
Apparently the policy brief I wrote for the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour has been picked up by the Occupy Wall Street movement. The brief can be found here.…
The food insecure amongst us
Every year the UN-OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) says that 3-4 million (always different) subsistence farmers and pastoralists in a variety of different regions in Ethiopia are…
IIlicit money flows
Not really into re-blogging articles but this essay effectively puts money laundering and corruption into context. It is useful for explaining key processes in the ‘the web of secrecy, collusions…
Mobiles Without Borders
International Institute of Mobile Technologies and Engineers Without Borders Toronto have joined forces to create Mobiles without Borders to encourage the use of mobiles in development. To start things off…