Over at The Guardian, David Hencke draws attention to a consultation about possible proposals which would restrict the use that can be made of the Freedom of Information Act: what ministers want to do is to restrict any individual or organisation from asking more than four detailed questions a year Read more…
Hilary Benn says that we should buy flowers imported from poor countries, even if we are concerned about the environment: some recent research by Cranfield University – who compared the emissions from producing 12,000 rose stems in Kenya with those in Holland, including transporting them to Hampshire – and found Read more…
Lord Nigel Crisp – who is also currently working on a review of DFID’s leadership capability – has called for a new system to help global health systems: His report calls for an NHS scholarship scheme to help with training and recommends a set amount of aid funds to be Read more…
I am in Rome, at the launch of the Advance Market Commitment. Under this scheme, a group of donors is promising to use $1,500 million to buy a new vaccine, if it is developed, which protects against the strains of pneumococcal infection that are common in the poor countries. This Read more…
I received today (February 7th) the “Government IT Profession Update (January 2007)”. (I am, strangely, a member of the Government IT profession, as well as being a member of the Government Economic Service.) This month’s update begins as follows: Here is the belated January edition of Government IT Profession Update. Read more…
Delivering the State of the Economy report on Wednesday, George Bush made the most effective case for the global trade talks that I can remember him making: … And the question for America is whether we treat the changes in our economy as opportunity to help improve people's lives, or Read more…
I have a Speedtouch 780 router. Inside my network is a computer that acts as a media server within the house, and as a mail server (which I use for my personal email) for outside the house. Until now, I have not been able to access the web server from Read more…
The ODI blog uses the debate about BAE in Tanzania as a hook for the broader issue known in Whitehall as "Policy Coherence for Development" – that is, the extent to which our policies on issues other than aid – such as trade, arms exports, financial stability, corruption, climate change, Read more…
The African Union has once again refused to appoint Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, as its Chairman. Compare this to 1975, when the AU's predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, appointed a murderous buffoon, Idi Amin, as its President. We often complain that Africans need to stand up for better governance Read more…
The Ideal Government blog comments on Gordon Brown's call for Government to make better use of the internet to have an open debate about globalisation and trade. The Times quotes Mr Brown: “We have not had these debates successfully. Why are we so much on the defensive on globalisation, why Read more…