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Silence in the Storm – Business and No Deal Brexit
The storm in Westminster rages so ferociously that at times it’s hard to hear ourselves think. There is second by second coverage of the House of Commons and Downing Street from every conceivable angle. Backbenchers so obscure that we’ve never heard of them before are dragged through the TV studios and closely cross-questioned. Others…
28 Feb 2019 james -
‘The Knowledge Quarter’ – resistance to capture and divestment from capital
In the Autumn I attended an utterly inspiring Shake! & Stuart Hall Foundation event – the launch of the Black Cultural Activism Map. It was held at the Platform theatre space in the Central Saint Martin’s art school – CSM – part of University of the Arts London. This new premises is a vast warehouse of…
24 Jan 2019 james -
PHOTOS: ‘Fracking rig’ & 10-metre projection protests fossil fuel finance on doorstep of UK government export body
Contact: Eliana Harrigan, Fossil Free London, +44 7541507517. Anna Markova, Platform, anna@platformlondon.org, +447942044472 Images available, credit Alban Grosdidier. As G20 governments gear up for their summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the climate talks are set to get underway in Katowice, the UK’s export finance department (UKEF) was hit by protests yesterday over its financing of oil…
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To Bruce Mackenzie – For these and future memories
In the flurry of a Tuesday afternoon, I receive an unexpected e-mail from Vicki Carroll. The header has your name in it Bruce, and I know instinctively within an instant what the message holds. I hover a while and then open the text to read the inevitable. You have stepped over, passed through the…
27 Nov 2018 james -
UK government spends aid money on promoting fracking
News just in: the UK is spending its official development aid funds to promote fracking abroad. The Foreign Office financed two projects in China to “export UK expertise in shale gas development”, aiming to create “an improved business environment” for UK companies. Our research, released today in collaboration with Friends of the Earth and Christian…
18 Nov 2018 anna -
Report: Foreign Office spends aid budget on ‘promoting fracking’ abroad
0.01am 19 November Research released by Platform today [1] reveals that Foreign Office spent funds from the UK’s Official Development Aid budget to promote shale gas drilling in China, as well as supporting expansion of oil and gas industries in Brazil, Mexico, India, and Myanmar. Foreign Office ran 16 strategic projects to expand fossil fuel industries…
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Victory at Leith Hill! Divest Fracking! Resisting sites of speculation
This piece was written before the news of the draconian jail sentences passed on those opposing fracking in Preston, Lancashire … but that bitter ruling does not destroy the reality that shortly before that decision we celebrated a Victory! The News of an Amazing Victory! We wrote of it as follows … The permission to…
12 Oct 2018 james -
The Invisible Machine – a gas pipeline in the Caucasus and a handshake in No10
On the evening of Thursday 26th April 2018, it was warm and sunny in London. President Ilham Aliyev strode down Downing Street and was met by Prime Minister Theresa May with smile and a handshake. They posed for the cameras on the red carpet outside No 10 and then retired inside. A short formal chat…
1 May 2018 james -
Aliyev re-elected as President for another 7 years – the chain of oil autocracy that binds Azerbaijan
On 18th April Ilham Aliyev will be inaugurated for the fourth time as President of Azerbaijan. His re-election comes as no surprise. It is so predictable that it barely counted as ‘news’ and consequently got next to no coverage in the international media. Originally the election was scheduled for 17th October, but at nine weeks…
18 Apr 2018 james
