DEMOS

• New Perspectives on Chinese Innovation A 600 page report on Chinese innovation summarized in just 20 minutes. Hidden innovation explained. The 'hard' and 'soft' realities of governance and regulation on innovation in China. The challenges facing a 'low-carbon China'. These were just some of the themes covered at our half day seminar - New Perspectives on Chinese Innovation' which we held last week at NESTA. continue reading Posted by Natalie Day on 25th February 2008 in Atlas of Ideas 2.0 Comments (1)
• Helsinki, 18-22 February 2008 Celia and I have just got back from a fantastic week in Helsinki, where we were visiting week-long video workshops at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art. It was the first of our research trips to Stranger Festival workshops, designed to help young people across Europe make videos about themselves and their impressions of the world around them. continue reading Posted by Celia Hannon Peter Bradwell on 23rd February 2008 in Children of Europa Comments (2)
• 5th Worldwide Security Conference I am blogging directly from the EastWest Institute’s 5th Annual Conference on Security, held in Brussels. The food is incredible, but I’m frustrated.The theme of the conference, which has gathered some 750 people from all over the world is “Protecting People, Economies, and Infrastructure”. As ever the threat from terrorism committed in the name of Islam is monopolising the agenda. More specifically, all the talk is about countering radicalisation and extremism.Seeing... continue reading Posted by Jamie Bartlett on 20th February 2008 Comments (1)
• Strangers The website for the Stranger Festival - a celebration of videos made by young people across Europe - is now online. It's well worth a look, not least for the videos themselves. The videos are mainly the product of workshops run throughout Europe by artists, co-ordinated by the European Cultural Foundation. We'll be blogging lots next week from Helsinki, where Celia and I will be visiting the workshops and seeing what the ideas and videos look like there. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 15th February 2008 in Children of Europa
• A tale of two cities From Whitehall incompetence to bucolic English tweeness, this local government story from today's Guardian basically contains all my favourite things.It turns out that officials at the Department for Communities gave £2.7m to the wrong town after getting their Newcastles muddled up. The cash went to the little borough of Newcastle Under Lyme rather than the somewhat larger Newcastle upon Tyne.Ooops.Now the leader of one Newcastle is demanding more money, and the leader of the other is... continue reading 14th February 2008
• Diversity and politics Is ethnic diversity at the root of our current political malaise? Robert Putnam shows us that diversity brings major benefits to societies, but can harm social trust and political engagement in the short term. If he's right, then this might just be a transitional phase of renegotiation before we get back to politics as usual. continue reading 13th February 2008 Comments (1)
• Musical 'mares It's not Friday - but can I rant? Unsurprising reports today of some imminent proposals to compel Internet Service Providers to punish users who download pirated material. This follows news a few months back that the government was facilitating talks between ISPs and the music industry. The proposals, as reported at least, seem to be that ISPs would give two warnings to users about the downloading of pirated material, before being banned from their connection. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 12th February 2008 in For Your Information
• School of Everything Demos associate Paul Miller is part of a team who have set up the really brilliant School of Everything. I've been meaning to blog about it for a while. In the words of the School team: "Simple, really. School of Everything helps people who want to learn and people who want to teach find each other..." continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 12th February 2008
• Podcast: Going Dutch In this Demos podcast, over tea in the Demos kitchen after the final Going Dutch seminar, Rachel Briggs caught up with David Goodhart, editor of Prospect magazine, and Professor Paul Schnabel, General Director of the Social and Cultural Planning Office of the Netherlands. continue reading Posted by Peter Bradwell on 9th February 2008 in Demos Podcasts
• Who are you? Mitt Romney has pulled out of the race to be the Republican nominee, leaving the field clear for John McCain.  What are the lessons? Real Clear Politics has a breakdown of the Romney campaign, looking in detail at who he attracted and who he alienated. I prefer this much simpler explanation: the reason he lost to McCain was that he succumbed to an idea that McCain didn’t: continue reading Posted by Duncan O'Leary on 8th February 2008

Demos Greenhouse