Charlie Edwards
Senior Researcher
Charlie Edwards writes, lectures and consults on national security, resilience, defence and intelligence. He works with international institutions, government departments, companies, and NGOs. He is a regular commentator in the national and international media.
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Power returns following blackouts
From the BBC:
Electricity supplies have returned to normal following countrywide blackouts on Tuesday, the National Grid has said. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across London, Cheshire, Merseyside and East Anglia lost power. Blackouts were caused by Sizewell B nuclear plant in Suffolk and Longannet coal-fired station in Fife going off-line within minutes of each other. Storms overnight have left some people still without power but operators have said they are working to restore it. continue reading on 4th July 2008 in Resilient Nation -
Where Trust is High, Crime and Corruption are Low
From the Pew Research Centre:
"Trust," political scientist Eric Uslaner has written, "is the chicken soup of social life." Over the last two decades, social scientists have repeatedly suggested that good things tend to happen in societies where people tend to trust each other -- they have stronger democracies, richer economies, better health, and they suffer less often from any number of social ills. continue reading on 30th June 2008 in Resilient Nation - The complexity of the civil protection model Good diagram showing the complexity of the civil protection model continue reading on 24th June 2008 in Resilient Nation
- The Pentagon's new map A map I should have put up ages ago. continue reading on 24th June 2008 in The Public Value of Security
- Restoring peace in complex emergencies I'm scraping the net (not to be confused with web scraping) for evidence of how communities respond in complex emergencies and came across IISS on FORA TV. Its long - over an hour but there are some useful insights from the experienced panel. continue reading on 23rd June 2008 in Resilient Nation
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Swinging in public
From Seen and Heard:
Until now, action to improve the lives of children and young people has tended to focus on the institutional spheres of home and school. Yet quality of life also depends on the access to and quality of shared resources such as streets, parks, town centres and playgrounds. And here, in the everyday spaces of our towns and cities, we increasingly exclude and marginalise the young....' that was until someone had this bright idea continue reading on 23rd June 2008 Comments (2) - Disaster Zones Useful global disaster alert map from by RSOE EDIS, a nonprofit emergency services organization based in Budapest. continue reading on 21st June 2008 in Resilient Nation
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The new public diplomacy– an appetiser
Our project on the new public diplomacy is beginning to produce some interim outputs. You may be interested in the following talks:
The new public diplomacy and Afghanistan – a talk at a Defence Academy seminar on Strategic Communications, Public Diplomacy and Afghanistan.
Technology and public diplomacy – a talk to the University of Westminster Symposium on Transformational Public Diplomacy
Next month, the Foreign Office will publish a book on the new public diplomacy, with a chapter from David and Alex that offers a preview of their Demos pamphlet. The book will be launched in Washington at the Brookings Institution and in London at Chatham House.
continue reading on 20th June 2008 in The New Public Diplomacy Comments (1) -
Truly, madly, politically
From the current edition of the New Statesman:
We all know a week is a long time in politics - but a weekend? Long enough, it seems, for a man to go from nuts to visionary. The David Davis saga brings to the surface the myriad underlying assumptions, relational synapses, summary judgements and convenient shortcuts that underpin political life. If politics were a good book, it would more often look as it did over the past few days - full of surprise, spontaneity, revolt, disbelief, judgement, repentance, suspicion, self-sacrifice, posturing and even conversion. continue reading on 20th June 2008 -
Good things come to those who wait
After 2 hours 14 minutes standing in the returns queue at the BFI for the preview of The Wire Series 5 + David Simon in conversation a wonderful woman has just offered me a ticket...
If you haven't seen or heard about The Wire here's a good introduction. Reviews here and here continue reading on 18th June 2008