International development
Hopeless Harriet
Last night, Harriet Harman launched a pre-emptive attack on the coalition’s failure to give 0.7 percent of GNI to overseas aid. Pre-emptive because the government has made no such U-turn… Continue reading
14 CommentsCoffee House interview: Mark Sedwill
Diplomats are often seen as stuffy characters from a different century, men who often appear lost in today’s chaotic world. Nobody could be further from that caricature than Mark Sedwill,… Continue reading
2 CommentsAid to India to be replaced with pro-growth help
How to manage Britain’s aid to India? The fast-rising country has a space programme, costing nearly the same as Britain gives in annual aid. To many people, that is reason… Continue reading
18 CommentsThe World’s Egyptian dilemma
In a few weeks, the World Bank will issue its Development Report, a document of canonical importance to the DfiDs of the world. But the recent events in Egypt will… Continue reading
3 CommentsThe Pope reopens the international aid debate
Spare a dime for a travelling Ponfiff? The Department for International Development can – and then some. According to their latest accounts, they funnelled £1.85 million of cash across to… Continue reading
16 CommentsCome on Europe; support the freedom you claim to love
The Middle East is being rocked to its authoritarian core, as pro-democracy protesters defy Hosni Mubarak’s regime for the eighth day in a row. They want an end to his… Continue reading
23 CommentsLabour leaves behind contractual IEDs for the coalition to clear
Before they left office, Labour laid a number of contractual IEDs, primed to blow up sooner or later. Last year, the SDSR revealed that the Government had to buy the… Continue reading
22 CommentsIn Cote D’Ivoire, New Year may bring a new Africa
The situation in Cote D’Ivoire is heating up. It has the potential either to herald a new future for West Africa, based on democracy, regional cooperation and a rejection of… Continue reading
30 CommentsDfID’s role put to the test
At a speech to the Royal Defence Academy earlier in the year, Andrew Mitchell outlined the costs of overseas conflict to Britain and offered a number of lessons for the… Continue reading
11 CommentsUncharitable action
After CoffeeHouse raised a virtual eyebrow and a few questions about the behaviour of War on Want and the Jubilee Debt Campaign, Tory MP Matthew Hancock has written to the… Continue reading
20 CommentsPoverty NGO or Labour stooge?
While I worked at DfiD, officials were very keen to disabuse me of my suspicion that some NGOs are in fact not focused on a politically-neutral campaign to end worldwide… Continue reading
24 CommentsBritain should have a Freedom Minister
Has liberal democracy lifted people out of poverty? To a casual observer, the answer is unequivocally yes. One part of the world – the industrialised democratic northern half – is… Continue reading
19 CommentsWhat sort of country do we want to be? A soft one
Admiral Lord West’s intervention was most striking in its language. He promised that a ‘national humiliation on the scale of the loss of Singapore’ would ensue unless his advice was… Continue reading
12 CommentsGordon Brown speaks out about not speaking out
Courtesy of Andrew Sparrow’s ever-superb live blog of the political day, from Brown’s appearance before the Commons development committee: "Let’s not get into this in any detail because it’s a… Continue reading
32 CommentsInternational aid should be abolished
The Comprehensive Spending Review was a step in the right direction, but I agree with Philip Booth and others when they say that there should be far more cuts down… Continue reading
42 CommentsTo the victor the spoils
The government must be doing something right with its aid policy: several NGOs absolutely hate it. Talking to the Guardian, Patrick Watt, Director of Save the Children and sleeping disciple… Continue reading
14 CommentsA tale of two statesmen and a wary industry
The only readable part of Tony Blair’s Lawrentian romp of a memoir, is the epilogue. He explains why the state must be trimmed in the future and how globalisation is… Continue reading
20 CommentsAndrew Mitchell: the answer to global terrorism
Al Shabaab and al Qeada are brothers in arms – Somalia is a hothouse for terror. Jonathan Evans, director general of MI5, has openly expressed his view that it is… Continue reading
17 CommentsAndrew Mitchell recasts DfiD’s role
Andrew Mitchell’s speech today at the Royal College of Defence Studies confirms me in my view that Mitchell is one of the most impressive members of the current government. Mitchell,… Continue reading
9 CommentsBrown’s plan for the future
Mr Blair’s former breathless lover will form the fully staffed Gordon and Sarah Brown Foundation, paid for by lucrative speaking engagements, which the Spectator revealed some weeks ago. He has… Continue reading
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