Latest thinking

Bill McKibben on 350.org

Blog

06 Jan 2009

I've just put up the Bill McKibben interview. He's asking artists to become involved working somehow with the figure 350. (That's the number of parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere which NASA scientist James Hansen thinks will allow a sustainable civilisation).

The Israeli action in Gaza - a leadership deficit

Blog

06 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

I hesitate before entering the debate about the Israeli action in Gaza. But I wanted to share a powerful interview with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, which took place last autumn and I haven’t seen referred to elsewhere.

Dear Barack and Michelle

Blog

05 Jan 2009

From the recent open letter from NASA climate scientist James Hansen to Michelle and Barack Obama, urging radical action when he takes office:

Status, health and inequality

Blog

05 Jan 2009

Chris Dillow suggests that perhaps one’s perception of status has not much to do with one’s health. Yet he also suggests we should still pay attention to the affect of inequality on health. But a definitive study by Richard G Wilkinson shows that these two factors should be linked: how we perceive our status in terms of inequality vis a vis wider society is massively determinant of how healthy we perceive ourselves to be, and how healthy we actually are. The study shows that it is not absolute poverty that counts, but poverty in relation to the society in which one lives – that it is this status-related relative poverty that makes all the difference.

Zadie Smith, brain plasticity and optimism about human nature

Blog

05 Jan 2009

Happy New Year from the Social Brain!

Nipping ageism in the bud

Blog

05 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

Back to work day for those of us who enjoyed a two week festive break. All the ‘year to come’ reviews for 2009 are pretty gloomy, although there is a continuing thread of commentary suggesting that we might grow from adversity, in particular by looking beyond the failed God of consumerism (a theme explored by this blog several months ago). The RSA aims both to engage with the post credit crunch zeitgeist whilst also bucking the trend of pessimism and retrenchment. We have great ambitions for 2009 as a defining year for a new RSA, to which I will return in future postings.

My new progressivism, part five - the world

Blog

02 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

The good news, I guess, is I’ve done what I said two weeks ago; one week of postings about the political situation and one about new strands in progressive thinking for the post credit crunch world. Sadly, I’m not sure this kind of sustained musing works as a blog. It will be a relief (for me and my reader) to go back next week to what does; short colourful riffs about new research, a topical incident or talking point.

My new progressivism , part four - public services

Blog

01 Jan 2009

Matthew Taylor

The economy will no doubt be the dominant issue at the next general election, but we can also expect public service reform to feature highly. So, given their prominence in political controversy and their importance in so many people’s lives what might be a new progressive approach to public services?

Technology in a Cold Climate (Report)

Report

01 Jan 2009

The UK faces severe challenges that manifest themselves in the short term in a cold economic climate, in which unemployment is high and a large government deficit threatens to reduce public sector spending.