Links I liked

Bumper crop of tweets last week, and here are some of the best. And with that I’m signing off for Christmas – see you in 2015.

Highest % of children in poverty in the developed world: 1 Greece; 3 Spain; 4 Israel; 6 US; 16 UK; 41 Norway [h/t Conrad Hackett]

Fascinating analysis of the process of change at the IMF – a paradigm shift is under way, away from neoclassical orthodoxy, but it is not complete. The result is growing schizophrenia [h/t Ricardo Fuentes]

Great piece by Ben Ramalingam and John Mitchell on the challenges of the ‘new normal’ in humanitarian work, and a useful typology for responding to them

Fed up with data hypesters? The problem with the data revolution in four Venn diagrams

Take your pick of two reviews of Africa in 2014: for optimists and for pessimists

Must read for inequality peeps: Nancy Birdsall argues that Piketty is largely irrelevant to developing countries (do tell me if she’s wrong)

The poorer you are, the more your healthcare spending comes out of your pocket.

 

Martin Ravallion makes the case for a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) in developing countries 

Totally brilliant (if you ever listen to Radio 4): a day’s R4 broadcasting condensed into 4 wonderful minutes. [h/t Ian Bray]

Dilbert explains strategic planning

 

 

 

 

Finally, the Guardian crowdsourced 11 of the best aid parodies. Not many new ones, though the oldies are still goodies. But they missed one of my favourites: this wonderful Armando Ianucci sketch -  a Kenyan appeal for Britain’s struggling Theatres