Links I Liked

Sometimes failure is not ‘failing faster, failing forward etc’. It’s just… failure. Dilbert explains 

There seems to have been a polite punch-up over the SDGs at the recent Gates Foundation shindig, according to Tom Paulson. SMART targets (read apolitical, health-dominated and few) v holistic (read laundry list).

How one NGO helps communities negotiate with investors for proper valuation of natural resources

Clowns who care – helping kids in Syrian refugee camps to laugh is important aid work

‘International analysts predict the seeds of a so-called “American Spring,” fomented by technology’. If Baltimore happened in a foreign country, this is how the Western press would cover it [h/t Ian Birrell, even tho he never h/ts back.....]

Nepal aftermath:

Nepali migrants sent $6bn back home in 2013, approx 1/3 of the country’s GDP. They’ll send a lot more this year

Lessons from Haitian earthquake response, by Christian Aid’s Haiti rep Prospery Raymond (no domestic politics, though)

Reading Harry Potter increases young Europeans’ tolerance of immigrants and gays. Experimental research findings.

Schoolboy pretends to be son of Tajikistan’s president, extracts $50k bribe from a gullible citizen by promising to get him some land, then gets caught. His mistake? Actually phoning up government officials to extract the land.

‘My buttocks are smooth, my mind is clear: vote UKIP’. Vox pop high/lowlights from Channel 4’s coverage of UK elections, proving that Brits are deeply odd. If you want a more sober assessment of British politics over next five years, this piece is a good place to start.