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Theme : globalchange
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Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob
They are the Walrus. Originally pegged to be Harper's North, the Walrus is a late '03 start-up mag and worth a look as a kind of NPQuarterly meets the New Yorker, which then again equals a fine Laphamian outpost indeed. Three issues are out and it's a regret that perhaps the finest piece I've read on wunderkin architect Daniel Libeskind can't be accessed on their website. Featured writers include Pico Iyer, Vaclav Havel and Margaret Atwood. Backed by a $5million endowment, watch as it gathers...
from : petermacleod
19th February 2004
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Massive Change
Bruce Mau Design is the Toronto graphics studio that works with the likes of Rem Koolhaas, issues Phaidon-weight tracts like Lifestyle, publishes oft-cited, but "incomplete" manifestos and famously produces the much envied imprint, Zone Books. But the key to understanding Mau's latest series of projects, which include a long view plan for a new metropolitan park and a new school-within-a-studio, the Institute without Boundaries, might be Mau's pre-occupation with the Public Good, by no...
from : petermacleod
17th February 2004
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Losing my religion
The secular nature of the Modern State still seems to cause a great deal of political controversy. Last year, we had European governments wrangling over the clause in the new EU constitution which makes references to the continent's Christian-Judaeo heritage. More recently we've had Jacques Chirac backing plans for a national ban on the wearing of Islamic headscarves and Jewish skullcaps in state schools. Why is Secularism still such a divisive issue? The recent demonstration in France that...
from : alistairdavidson
10th February 2004
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New tanks on the block
Demos has grown pretty rapidly over the past couple of years, but we are a think tank tortoise when compared to the hare-on-speed that is the Center for American Progress - a new Washington think tank founded in October 2003 by John Podesta, former Chief of Staff to Bill Clinton.Backed by wealthy liberals such as George Soros, the Center aims to become an intellectual powerhouse for the left, able to match the influence and energy of right-wing tanks such as Heritage Foundation. Although only...
from : jameswilsdon
28th December 2003
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Postmodern Praise
Robert Cooper's new book gets a pretty good review in the Statesman this week. The book builds on his Postmodern State argument published by Demos in 2000.
from : paulmiller
14th November 2003
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Auto-identity
Earlier in the day, we were met by a different kind of organisation in a different kind of car. Andrew Blau of the Global Business Network cruised up to meet us in a vintage BMW coupe, and took us for a very enjoyable lunch with three of his GBN colleagues. We swapped notes on scenarios, chewed over consultancy and agreed we should definitely collaborate in future. GBN have a lot to teach us about how to create a thriving, international network of associates, and how to combine strategy and...
from : jameswilsdon
17th September 2003
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Day 2 of the Singularity
His thesis is that as networks become more connected and the cost of transaction comes down, they tend to break up functions so that various parts of the network specialise. So when you put a computer network into a small office (like Demos) you find that very quickly you want a file server that ?specialises? in storing and routing information and a separate mail server that specialises in dealing with email rather than each individual computer having to do it itself. Go up a level and you...
from : paulmiller
15th September 2003
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Above The Law
Well, it's official: the USA is once again in breach of international law on Weapons of Mass Destruction. On Wednesday, it quietly admitted that it would not meet its requirement under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention to destroy 45 per cent of its stockpile by April next year. This stockpile includes 3.3 million (yes, million) bombs, rockets, shells and cartridges, as well as the surprisingly precise figure of 315,682 'binary munitions', which spray lethal gas in flight. Nice.This sort of...
from : alistairdavidson
5th September 2003
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Gambling on terrorism
One of the most bizarre news items I've ever read: apparently, the CIA have decided to open an online betting pool on major international events - such as terrorist attacks, coups and invasions.The idea is that the market will work its magic, to predict the future course of world events far better than the CIA. You might say, though, that this is more of a comment on America's intelligence services than on the market itself...Brilliantly unconventional lateral thinking, or just a neo-liberal...
from : alistairdavidson
29th July 2003
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A mercenary business
The FT has an interesting story about the company who've offered to go in and keep peace in Liberia instead of the US having to commit troops.They also do a line in tricky arrests: "In June the company offered to provide the UN-backed court with a "special constabulary force" of some 60 armed men that would arrest Mr Taylor and bring him to trial at a cost of around $4m."Read the full story here.
from : paulmiller
24th July 2003
