4 things I read this weekend
September 5, 2011 § Leave a Comment
This is what jumped out for me as being important / interesting this weekend, designed for a different audience but have tweaked to share it here.
I really enjoyed the FOOC by Kevin Connolly on buying shirts in Libya and also curious to know how much a picture of Gwyneth Paltrow puts on sales-wise, Indie, Obs & Sunday Times went for it this weekend.
1) The New Middle Classes Rise Up: First the fight against corruption / Next the fight for Democracy
This article really struck me as one of the best things I have read for a long time. It talks about how the M/Classes in 13 emerging economies are growing in their activism against corruption (eg India & Anna Hazare / China & the rail crash) and how it could migrate from a protest force against corruption into a political force for democracy. Also interesting to note that in China, the protest in Dalian against a fire was the biggest the country had seen since Tiannamen Square.
Some fascinating polling research in here and it brought together lots of loose strands and placed it under a compelling narrative; 1 off corruption protest leads to campaigns for better governance. As an aside, also fascinating to read about Sina Weibo & its 140 mn users (mainly m/class) as a social media means for us to consider in our comms into the country
2) The Economy / Taxing the Rich
“Obama’s f*cked if the economy’s f*cked” is one of the things that struck me from a conversation I had recently with a White House watcher. The signals are that with jobs flat lining in the US, Europe likely to do more country bail outs, Britain now considering more fiscal stimulus & a Double Dip really on the cards means for making the most out of another good crisis and going beyond the Robin Hood Tax. One answer to this could be Taxing the Rich. Interesting to see French Govt looking at this (albeit slowly), head of Ferrari in Italy wanting to be taxed more, right wing Tory MPs in the UK saying this should happen in Britain following Buffett / others opening the debate on this issue, one to watch.
3) Climate Change – The Economist
Great summary on prospects for Durban – which are pretty bleak – here which could see EU back down from 30% cuts to 20%, Canada won’t hit its targets and many others looking to go backwards.
Also, as an aside, the BBC weather programme (just happened to be on last night) was talking about 200 temperature records were broken in 2011 (eg wettest in 11 years this summer in the UK / a new high of 26 degrees in Sydney this winter / a new temp record of 47 in Childress in US / 80 cm of snow in Atacama desert); the debate with no urgency seems to need a hefty injection of it.
4) Murdoch: The Autumn Prequel
Interesting to read of splits in family (Elisabeth not wanting to step up to board / cross with James) and also seeing new people on the Board (eg Jim Breyer who is biggest investor in Facebook) as they try to de-murdoch-ify it. They have all turned down big bonuses (James has at least) and October 21st is a date we should have in the calendar as that’s there annual meeting
… for those that missed it, it seems to be blowing up in Australia with Gillard / News Intl there, Sept 13th will see the Greens put down their amendment
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/sep/01/rupert-murdoch-the-australian-government
