The Manifesto

I came across a substantial but very readable discussion between Patrick Bond, a South African activist and academic, and Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank’s chief economist.  It’s rare to find genuine engagement on behalf of the World Bank, and credit to Devarajan for responding to Bond’s critique directly – but his response, as Bond shows, [...]

Interesting article on the recently swooned-over ‘Giving Pledge’, in which a number of the world’s richest individual’s and families have committed significant funds to philanthropic ends.  Lorenzo Fioramonti asks some pertinent questions.  http://tinyurl.com/3xayamo

This article first appeared in the Rolling Stone a couple of years ago, but is still vital reading – a brilliant expose on how financial markets have helped orchestrate, and made good from, the recent (and previous) crises.  Nothing of how the world works can be adequately understood without grasping the nettle of financial markets, [...]

Thought-provoking (and beautifully animated) little ten-minute piece by Zizek on the danger of charity.  Well-worth a watch (also check the other RSA Animate series pieces, including the excellent one on the recent financial crisis by David Harvey).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpAMbpQ8J7g

Great piece by John Gray on the nonsense of Matt Ridley’s (former Northern Rock chairman) new book continuing to laud free markets.  http://tinyurl.com/2aork7g