Links I Liked

Back from a busy two weeks in Aus and NZ, including this interview with Lisa Cornish of DevEx, recorded under the eucalyptus trees of Canberra.

For writers of long emails everywhere. Please don’t.

In which h/t Prof David Hudson

Chuffed that the Economist ran my letter on inequality. Shame they cut all mention of Oxfam though.

Maybe the true challenge of Islamism to the West is that it challenges the centrality of the nation state.

‘UK government under fire for failure to regulate aid contractors’. Some uncritical ‘private sector = good, everyone else = rubbish’ chickens coming home to roost. Trouble is, the reputation and quality of aid suffers in the process.

Why it matters to understand the informal economy. Lovely prize-winning essay from LSE_ID student Max Gallien

The highlight in Australia was probably being roasted in front of 200 people in Melbourne by my good friend Chris Roche. As a finale he made me proceed up the stairs to sign books, while on the big screen appeared Slim Dusty singing ‘I love to have a beer with Duncan’. Memorably weird.