One World Column

Doublethink

2013-06-17T11:04:00.003+01:00

By Mark Crutchley "The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.... to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies", George Orwell, 1984. Last Thursday the Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper came to London and was accorded the honour of addressing both Houses of

Grassroots media keeps the presses rolling

2013-05-11T15:25:00.000+01:00

On May 1 the new national grassroots newspaper, Transition Free Press, published its second summer edition - 24 pages of full colour news and views, contributed by Transitioners and community activists working in the field. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things in all kinds of places: in the city, in the wild, in books, housing co-ops, small businesses, allotments, in the park, down the pub

Is Online Activism Enough

2013-04-28T20:22:00.000+01:00

By Mark Crutchley I’ve clicked to save the bees, e-mailed my MP about the NHS and even sent a letter to the President of Ecuador about oil drilling in their national forest. Plus I tweeted about the actions I had taken and shared the link on Facebook – what more do you want? With the dramatic success of Avaaz and 38 Degrees, plus the move into online activism of most of the major

The 'In Vitro' World of the 21st Century

2013-04-23T15:40:00.000+01:00

Marguerite Finn Yesterday I received my copy of the New World magazine from the United Nations

Does it matter if you believe?

2013-04-10T10:22:00.000+01:00

Who would think that in 2013, the situation of domestic workers would be no better than in Victorian times? The UN Agency The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has just produced a report entitled Domestic Workers, which is the first of its kind looking in depth at working conditions and the extent of legal protection enjoyed by

Burning the Forests

2013-03-10T09:11:00.001Z

By Mark Crutchley This month a new national newspaper, Transition Free Press was launched, and yesterday, as the paper's editor I gave a Trade School class in The Common Room at St Lawrence's Church to discuss how grassroots media can work in times of Transition. You can see an on-line version of the first issue here. and hard copies are now on sale in Norwich (

Growing Campaigns

2013-02-16T07:53:00.000Z

By Mark Crutchley Norwich and the surrounding region is very well blessed with campaign groups covering a wide spread of activities, from those groups with a specific focus such as Norwich Stop the War coalition and Transition Norwich; to the broader organisations like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth which campaign on a changing roster of issues. The Green Party too is active in many

The Crystals of Catastrophe

2013-02-10T13:21:00.000Z

by Peter Lanyon Sugar beet is such a feature of Norfolk farming that one may take it for granted. One expects to get stuck behind those lorries and to see the plume of steam above the Cantley factory. We are always hearing of new pests and diseases and of the wrong sort of weather for the crop, and we don’t notice that these headlines are interspersed with record-breaking sugar beet harvests.

Do you see the cat?

2013-02-02T11:30:00.000Z

by Pete Smith “Seeing the cat” has served as a metaphor for achieving an understanding the teachings of Henry George since he set them out in his bestselling economic treatise “Progress and Poverty” in 1879. George sought to understand why there are recessions and poverty amid plenty and his investigation led him to identify the central role of land in the economy. The original story

Robin Hood and our Tax System

2013-01-26T15:00:00.002Z

By Mark Crutchley Robin Hood, as we all know, stole from the rich to give to the poor, so it comes as no surprise to find that the modern day tax for which his name has been appropriated, doesn’t find favour with our current government. Nonetheless earlier this week you may have seen that a group of 11 European nations, including both France and Germany, agreed plans to introduce a

Bees, Honey Cell Bases and Belligerence

2013-01-05T00:13:00.000Z

by Peter Lanyon Most people know that honeycombs are formed of hexagonal wax cells, and that this economic arrangement stores a maximum amount of honey in a given space, since the cells are tessellated – they fit together side by side, wasting no space between them. Some people are able to restrain themselves long enough from the delectable taste of honey to notice that the intact comb consists

Our trains shouldn't have to take the strain

2012-12-31T10:51:00.002Z

By Rupert Read On Jan. 2nd during rush-hour, Norwich will be part of a nationwide action urging commuters to complain to the Chancellor about government’s failure to invest in our rail network. Why is this happening? Because, as rail passengers go back to work in the New Year they’ll be faced with a new round of fare increases. It will be the tenth consecutive year that fares have risen above

Fighting for a Frack-Free Future

2012-12-15T10:21:00.003Z

by Sarah Woods There’s a growing trend in the production of hydrocarbons. Having taken a lot of the ‘easy’ stuff out of the ground, we’re now moving on to ‘unconventional’ sources. There are massive potential reserves of unconventionals, but their extraction comes at a high risk to the environment. Shale gas is obtained by fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a process whereby large

There was a Jolly Miller Once - - - -

2012-12-09T15:48:00.000Z

One of the pleasures of old age is the time one has to mull over things. Even if there is stupidity or concern in them, they often profit from a bit of mulling. So I hope the three I share today will be of interest, although the first stems from a deeply stupid situation and the second raises questions of profound and disturbing depth. I

Why Markets Aren’t Working

2012-12-02T16:52:00.000Z

By Mark Crutchley Will the long-awaited energy bill, which is due out this week, mean that the UK finally has an energy policy worth having? I, for one, would not bet any money on it, having taken due note of Andrew Simms’ article in the Observer: “Every part of our society depends on energy. Yet we don’t have a plan” and the accompanying leader on 21

Biofuels – Not the Solution

2012-10-28T12:59:00.001Z

By Mark Crutchley While reading the local paper last night, I came across a small article nestling close to the fold of a page. The headline read: A Warning Over Energy Shortfall. The article went on to say that Britain is facing the rising risk of an energy shortfall within three years. The energy regulator, Ofgem, said that energy supplies were being hit

Geoengineering the Planet

2012-09-30T10:12:00.000+01:00

By Mark Crutchley Seeing the crowds packed into Trafalgar Square and the Mall to welcome the Olympians and Para-Olympians recently gave me pause for reflection. I had thought that one only saw crowds like that at the Kaaba in Mecca or in the streets of Bombay. For a small country we certainly pack in an awful lot of people. This is a matter of concern for