In January, I always enjoy reading the Economist's World In Year X publication – which sets out their forecasts for big headlines under a number of categories. What I particularly like is their review of how correct their forecasts were …
During my teenage years, I had a good number of friends who were determined to be DJs. Personally, I was never very excited by DJ'ing, mostly because I found it rather difficult to a) find great music that other people …
Of all the things that have gone viral this year, there is 1 in particular that stood out for me. A Swedish professor, Hans Rosling, produced a survey that tests our assumptions about the progress of the developing world. It …
About 4 months ago, I found out that a second cousin of mine who lives in Kenya, a beautiful sweet 5-year-old girl called Blessing, had been having problems walking. Her problems had become so severe she could no longer stand. …
When I was a teenager, I lived in a city called St Albans. At the entrance there was always a sign showing that it was "twinned" with a number of other towns or cities around the world. It's twinned with …
There is a rising groundswell of interest in how international donors can rapidly respond to changing contexts, developing adaptive competences and incentives. Owen Barder, Duncan Green, Matt Andrews, Tim Harford and Ben Ramalingam have all been writing about these issues …
Here in the UK, according to national statistics (PDF 2.44MB) the government spends an average of £8,745 on each person per year providing services. But if you live in a lower middle-income country like Pakistan or Sudan, your government will …
Here in the UK, many news stories we hear about Somalia are negative. Somalia is one of the world's riskiest places, alongside countries like Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Twenty one out of the 28 countries that DFID …
As a bride-to-be, I remember having quite a few conversations about whether to change my surname after marriage. Apparently, grooms have been increasingly considering this question too. The pros and cons are regularly covered in magazines so there is no …
If you've ever watched the seminal British comedy Yes, Minister, you’ll know that "technical" and "bureaucratic" are 2 words often associated with civil servants. They are also 2 words often associated with international organisations, though I won't name any names... …
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