Folk tales often grow from periods of great hardship. The tale of Hansel and Gretel, though first written down much later, is thought to stem from the onset of the medieval cold period, known as the Little Ice Age and the Great Famine in Europe of the early...
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Crapitalism: & the alternatives to ‘big’ outsourcing
Lindsay Mackie and Andrew Simms ask why we're not using proven alternatives to 'big' outsourcing News last week that Capita was in difficulties led to a near 50 percent drop in its share price as anxiety about its stability surged following the disclosure of net debts...
February’s tale: back with the fairies
‘Back with the fairies’, by David Boyle, charts the strange revival of beliefs in fairies, asks in an age of irrational politics what might be driving the phenomenon, and what it might mean about seeking both escape and connections in the modern world. His...
Migration play by New Weather’s Sarah Woods wins national drama award
BORDERLAND by New Weather’s Sarah Woods has won the Tinniswood Award, for best original radio drama script of 2017. The prize was presented by author Philip Pullman, and Sarah gave thanks to the people and organisations she worked with on the struggles of those forced...
It isn’t public versus private, it is big versus small
Let me start with a story, which has to be a little obscure to protect the innocent. The government has a Voluntary Repatriation Scheme for asylum-seekers and refugees who find their home has changed, and who get employment back there. The scheme is administered by...
The climate breakdown behind the ice and snow
Behind the freezing weather that makes some wish for a warmer world, writes Bill McGuire, there is a climate in upheaval... As Britain faces its own bleak midwinter, the brutal cold snap that recently gripped much of North America has once again brought the climate...
Latest Publication

This pamphlet looks at how the UK is unprepared for a new era of crises and disasters. To illuminate the national predicament we look at lessons from recent history, and what we can learn, often from countries in the Global South, about the kind of local planning required and resources needed to be ready for when storms and other disasters strike near where we live.
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