June 2016

Making Sense of Brexit

Global Affairs As policies, the recent developments in Britain seem irrational. But the problems underpinning the Brexit vote really aren’t about policies, so they aren’t amenable to policy analysis and solutions. By Philip Bobbitt Of the millions of words written in the past few days about Brexit — the British vote to leave the European Union — the word “State” has seldom appeared. Very few commentators seem to appreciate the one concept that unites the otherwise disparate and paradoxical elements of the Brexit vote. For unless one appreciates that the driving historical force that has brought us to this impasse is the decay of one constitutional order, the industrial nation-state, and the emergence of its successor, the informational market state, the crises brought on by Brexit will simply confound us. We need conceptual tools to make sense of these phenomena, the first of which is that the most economically vulnerable persons in the United Kingdom and those who have suffered most under the British government’s policy of austerity voted in favor of Brexit with the full knowledge that it would, in all likelihood, turn an estimated positive growth in GDP to a negative and plunge the economy into recession, jeopardizing the entitlements and falling prices on which these persons depend. Indeed, considerable numbers of voters in economically depressed areas that receive significant amounts of EU aid voted to leave the bloc. The second phenomenon is that, having won the battle to keep Scotland in the United Kingdom, the government has taken the one step — because it is irrevocable — that now puts secession back on the table, not only in Scotland but also in Wales, which voted for the Brexit. Moreover, a campaign against the “democratic deficit” in Brussels has led to the removal of a prime minister democratically […]

Brexit – A very bad flu that UK caught

Richard Branson said this morning that the Brexit vote has reduced the value of Virgin by thirty percent. There are lots of Richard Branson’s in Britain at the moment and it will take them years to recover – if at all. The ‘deflockers’ of Brexit said get out because Globalisation created the haves and the have-nots to a greater extent than any time in history. Although if you go back a couple of hundred years there were always the haves and have nots. The UK got out of Brexit because of the slack entry requirements for refugees into the United Kingdom. There are a thousand other reasons why the UK left and only a few less than that as to why staying was an option. Fifty-two percent of the British population caught the Brexit flu and pretty soon there won’t be enough Panadol to go around. A company losing money in such a dramatic and monumental move is hardly surprising. However, that surprise is a real shock when you look at the rapidly reducing pool of money available from the banks and the future of business in the UK. Australia is going to look so attractive, especially with their way of dealing with refugees and their determination for national security. There is of course the state of the middle east and how it got to be the way it is. Bush and Blair and Howard invading caused a hell of a mess, the pain is now throbbing through every vein of every refugee. And every resident of Europe. The inaction to wipe out the Isis crisis is unforgiveable. Because if forces had been instructed to ‘clean them out’ we wouldn’t have Europe in such turmoil. The refugees would be at home in their own country. Compounding factors – globalisation and […]

Jo Cox: Proud Yorkshire lass who became local MP

Jo Cox was the Labour MP for Batley and Spen She was a self-proclaimed “proud Yorkshire lass” whose work for charity took her around the world and whose political success led her to Westminster. Jo Cox MP, who has died after being shot and stabbed in her constituency in Birstall, West Yorkshire, was elected as MP for Batley and Spen in the 2015 General Election. The 41-year-old mother-of-two increased Labour’s majority to 6,051. Prime Minister David Cameron led the many tributes to her on Thursday. He described her as a “bright star”. Helen Joanne Cox first worked in politics after graduating from Cambridge University in 1995, but then built a career working for charities including Oxfam, Save the Children and the NSPCC. She went to Heckmondwike Grammar School and then became the first person in her family to go to university – reading social and political studies at Cambridge. After graduating, she worked as an adviser for the Labour MP Joan Walley and then Glenys (now Baroness) Kinnock. By the end of the 1990s she was head of campaigns for the pro-European pressure group Britain in Europe. She also took on further study at the London School of Economics. It’s an over used word these days, but Jo was a star. She was brave, funny, and clever. In Westminster she was one of those rare people that whatever was going on in politics that day, however much backbiting there was, however many insults were being thrown around, the day was always improved if you bumped into her for a chat, a cup of tea, or heard her speak fearlessly and with compassion in the Commons. But a conversation with her was just as likely to turn to her young kids, or the family’s houseboat on the Thames, as it was […]

8 digital skills we must teach our children

The social and economic impact of technology is widespread and accelerating. The speed and volume of information have increased exponentially. Experts are predicting that 90% of the entire population will be connected to the internet within 10 years. With the internet of things, the digital and physical worlds will soon be merged. These changes herald exciting possibilities. But they also create uncertainty. And our kids are at the centre of this dynamic change. Children are using digital technologies and media at increasingly younger ages and for longer periods of time. They spend an average of seven hours a day in front of screens – from televisions and computers, to mobile phones and various digital devices. This is more than the time children spend with their parents or in school. As such, it can have a significant impact on their health and well-being. What digital content they consume, who they meet online and how much time they spend onscreen – all these factors will greatly influence children’s overall development. The digital world is a vast expanse of learning and entertainment. But it is in this digital world that kids are also exposed to many risks, such as cyberbullying, technology addiction, obscene and violent content, radicalization, scams and data theft. The problem lies in the fast and ever evolving nature of the digital world, where proper internet governance and policies for child protection are slow to catch up, rendering them ineffective. Moreover, there is the digital age gap. The way children use technology is very different from adults. This gap makes it difficult for parents and educators to fully understand the risks and threats that children could face online. As a result, adults may feel unable to advise children on the safe and responsible use of digital technologies. Likewise, this gap gives […]

This country made so much clean energy it had to pay people to use it

On a bright and blustery day last month, a surreal event took place in the world of German energy prices. Sunny and windy weather lit up the country’s solar and wind farms, causing a surge of clean energy that amounted to almost all of Germany’s 45.8 gigawatt daily demand. Topped up by the supply from traditional power plants, the sum of energy being produced that day was well in excess of the amount needed. And that means that for a brief moment in time, energy prices were negative: consumers were effectively being paid to use energy. The below chart shows Germany’s power production and consumption on 8 May 2016: you can see the gigawatts peaking between 10am and 12am. Image: Source: Agora Energiewende Germany isn’t the only country living the green dream: for four consecutive days last month, Portugal managed to run entirely on wind, solar and hydro power. It’s a bright point in a generally cheery picture for Portugal, with renewable sources now providing almost half its energy each year. Sixteen countries have now hit 100% renewable electricity production, according to 2013 data from the Energy Information Administration. Costa Rica made headlines recently by running entirely on clean energy for 75 days of 2015. Iceland has achieved its target of becoming 100% renewable-powered, with Norway close behind on 98%, according to the data. And it’s a bright (and hopefully windy) outlook for sustainable energy the world over. The alternative energy sector has grown more in 2016 than in any other year since records began, according to the recently released Renewables 2016 Global Status Report, which also notes that by the end of 2015, renewable capacity was “enough to supply an estimated 23.7% of global electricity”.

How technology is cracking the world’s toughest problems

3 ways technology is cracking the world’s toughest problems The sun is setting on old ways of tackling social problems. Social entrepreneurship – applying innovative, market-based models to solve social problems – is about impact and scale, not just the product or service itself. Fundamentally, that’s about implementation. How do you get a life-saving vaccine or a life-changing piece of educational software into the hands of people who need it, on a scale that matters? When you’re trying to change behaviour and disrupt the conventional way things are done, whether that’s getting poor people in Mexico to manage their diabetes better or provide financial services to rural communities in the Philippines, the toughest nut to crack is not the what but the how. And leveraging new technology is often part of the answer. “The ICT industry has created tremendous infrastructure for delivering social goods more effectively and cost-efficiently,” said Jim Fruchterman, the Founder of Benetech, a Palo Alto-based non-profit focused on harnessing the power of technology to provide public goods like education and services for disabled people. Indeed, across the Schwab Foundation’s network of more than 300 social entrepreneurs, technology is enabling and transforming business models in ways that were unthinkable ten years ago. Tripling artisan incomes in India Industree is a social enterprise that brings together traditional female artisans making modern lifestyle products (think placemats and pillowcases) into producer-owned companies. You may have seen Industree-produced baskets at IKEA, for example. Industree triples these women’s incomes by cutting out the middlemen and tweaking their designs for Western (and high-end Indian) markets, and their projections were to grow from 2,000 artisans to 30,000 artisans within the next decade. But then they were connected with Mindtree, the IT and business consulting firm headquartered in Bangalore, who helped them totally revamp their model. […]

Cities worldwide commit to combating emissions

Through bold climate commitments, 228 cities around the world are taking the lead on climate action. Over 200 cities have set greenhouse gas reduction goals or targets. Action in these cities, which represent a combined population of 439 million people, could propel countries to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs)—–the national greenhouse gas reduction pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement. According to Can a City Be Sustainable?, the latest edition of the annual State of the World series from the Worldwatch Institute, cities and their inhabitants are playing a lead role in achieving global climate action goals “The challenge over the next several decades is an enormous one,” write Michael Renner and Tom Prugh, contributing authors and co-directors of the report. “This requires not change around the edges, but a fundamental restructuring of how cities operate, how much they consume in resources and how much waste they produce, what they look like, and how they are structured.” Growing numbers of cities have pledged themselves to climate commitments and sustainability goals. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has expanded to over 80 cities. The Compact of Mayors, launched at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, is the largest coalition of city leaders addressing climate change. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability works with more than 1,000 cities around the world. Cities today host more than half of the earth’s human beings and represent about 70 percent of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. If trends continue, urban populations are expected to increase to 6 billion by 2045, at which point two-thirds of all people will live in urban environments. “If current trends in urbanization continue unabated, urban energy use will more than triple, compared to 2005 levels, by 2050,” write Renner and Prugh. It is no surprise that cities collectively account […]