On a recent trip back to the UK I was fortunate enough to visit Salisbury Cathedral and the site of the Battle of Naseby. Both are significant historical sites but linked together by virtue of their place in the development of democracy as we understand it today.
Salisbury Cathedral holds one of the four remaining originals of Magna Carta, the founding document which spells out the relationship between King and Subject. It’s a magnificent piece of history.

The Battle of Naseby, in a Northamptonshire field, was the key to the English Civil War, as the King’s Men were routed by the Parliamentarians. 4 years later Charles I was executed and England became a republic of sorts until 1660. This period was a test of Magna Carta, a rebuff to the over zealous monarchy and a statement by the people that they would not have their rights trampled over.

The reason i mention this is because of this post by Gareth Morgan who is chugging is way around Africa and writes a very neat piece on the continuing disaster that is African democracy (not in all countries of course).

Whenever we grumble about our political system a quick dip into the history books should quickly remind us of  how we got here. It’s a shame history is not taught seriously anymore but it often helps us develop a sense of context when we lose our perspective.

Surely this is a joke? The White House is disappointed over the recognition of the 1915 Armenian Genocide by Congress because it might effect trade issues and the war on terror.

Oh the irony.

The Turks have reacted predictably by recalling their ambassador.  And they want to be in the EU?

It makes Alice in Wonderland look sensible.

Bjorn Lomborg is back with a new book and lots of publicity. Called “Cool It” it looks more closely at the benefits as well as the costs of a warming climate. What separates Lomborg from the climate change sceptics is that he readily agrees on the problem but not the solutions.

His main focus is always to step back from the hysteria and hype and look more pragmatically at the problem. I would say this is a sensible approach though it’s hard to ever get sensible debate when it comes to the environment.

Nothing else quite allows people to represent themselves as good or worthy and label others as bad or dirty.

Lomborg is not into saving the planet. He’s into calm reasoning and tries to stay within the remits of his expertise as a statistician. Interestingly enough Al Gore has been getting a judicial working over in the UK over his alarmist portrayal of the situation.

The moral of this story is that we need to make reasoned policy based on what we know and can observe. That a warmer climate presents severe challenges is not without doubt but let’s keep a clear head whilst working out what, if anything, we can do about it.

Letting issues like this develop into a battle between good and bad just leads to reactive approaches. Lomborg falls somewhere in between and is worth listening too even if just to disagree with.

Giving is in the news a lot recently especially with the publication of Bill Clinton’s book, Giving. I’ve mentioned previously that i  am a big fan of Kiva and today some of my first loans were repaid. So far i’ve made 15 and 4 have repaid all ahead of time which is great.

So with new money available to re lend i searched out some new potential borrowers but could only lend $25 at a time and then just two loans in total. Why?

Because Kiva is so overwhelmed with support that there are not enough businesses to lend to. They want to make sure as many people as possible get to be involved.

That’s great news on all fronts.

Ultimately we are moving towards a point where money will be viewed more and more as energy, not to be stored up but to be spread around. P2P finance, as well as other forms of exchange, have the opportunity to subvert current systems because it is people led. Social capital via the web is being built at an astounding rate.

Giving  is just one way of building this social capital which will be so important to the success and prosperity of society.