This is a story of hope in the face of widespread consternation over the global climate crisis. For many people concerned about global warming, the 2018 vote by UK parliamentarians to proceed with the plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport was a devastating blow. Aviation was predicted to make up some 25% of the UK’s carbon emissions by 2050 and so the decision seemed to fly in the face of the UK’s commitment to be a climate leader.Can the UK expand Heathrow airport, bringing...

The development of Africa's oil has greatly accelerated in recent years, with some countries looking at the prospect of almost unimaginable flows of money into their national budgets. But the story of African oil has usually been associated with conflict, corruption and disaster, with older producers such as Nigeria having little to show for the many billions of dollars they've earned. In this eye-opening book, former BBC correspondent Celeste Hicks questions the inevitability of the so-ca...

When Hissène Habré, the deposed dictator of Chad, was found guilty of crimes against humanity in 2016, it was described as 'a watershed for human rights justice in Africa and beyond'. For the first time, an African war criminal had been convicted on African soil.Having followed the trial from the very beginning and interviewed many of those involved, journalist Celeste Hicks tells the remarkable story of how Habré was brought to justice. His conviction followed a heroic 25 year cam...

From the vantage point of many in the West, Africa remains a continent of woe – a place stalked by ethnic conflict, corrupt dictatorships, religious strife, war and famine. But today, at last, the flawed mythology that treats Africa as a homogenous disaster area is being challenged by investors, economists, fund managers and academics. Age is not often associated with speed; but Africa, the cradle of civilisation, now has more of the world’s fastest-growing economies than any other. After ...

What will happen if Britain leaves the EU, and how will it affect you? Europe: vital for Britain's economy and global standing or a bureaucratic monster hell-bent on destroying our national sovereignty? And why is no one talking about what leaving Europe would actually mean? Addressing the real issues surrounding a potential exit from the EU - including jobs, travel, immigration, investment, sovereignty and justice - this book investigates the consequences both for the country and for the ...

Economic growth does not demand a secret formula. Good development examples now abound in East Asia and further afield in others parts of Asia, and in Central America. But why then has Africa failed to realise its potential in half a century of independence? Why Africa is Poor demonstrates that Africa is poor not because the world has denied the continent the market and financial means to compete: far from it. It has not been because of aid per se. Nor is African poverty solely a ...

'Admirably brief and necessarily brutal... Highly recommended.' — NICK COHEN, THE SPECTATOR'Compact and easily digestible. I’d encourage anyone who is confused, fascinated or frustrated by Brexit to read this book – you’ll be far wiser by the end of it.' — CAROLINE LUCAS MP'I would strongly recommend Ian Dunt’s excellent guide. Dunt has taken the extraordinary step of asking a set of experts what t...

As we watch wave after wave of volatility threaten the global economy, it is tempting to ask, who is in charge here? The answer, journalist and economist Alan Beattie explains, is all too often no one.The crisis that began with mortgages in American suburbia has now spread around the world from banks to businesses to governments, threatening to bring decades of economic progress to a juddering halt. Globalization's strengths - its speed, breadth, and complexity - have also proved t...

Picture South Africa ten years from now: Are the angry poor rising up and seizing land and businesses? Or has economic reform created jobs and growth? Is an increasingly desperate government clamping down on freedoms? Or do the middle classes still braai in suburban bliss? South Africa is at a tipping point, and small shifts in political and economic conditions can bring about dramatic changes. Unemployment, slow growth, threats to freedom of speech, and poor education can send the country...

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF BRITAIN LEAVES THE EU - AND HOW WILL IT AFFECT YOU?Europe: vital for Britain's economy and global standing or a bureaucratic monster hell-bent on destroying our national sovereignty? And why is no one talking about what leaving the European Union would actually mean?Addressing the real issues surrounding a potential EU exit - including jobs, travel, immigration, investment, sovereignty and justice - this fully updated and revised edition of David Charter's...

Once marginalized in the world economy, the past decade has seen Africa emerge as a major global supplier of crucial raw materials like oil, uranium and coltan. With its share of world trade and investment now rising and the availability of natural resources falling, the continent finds itself at the centre of a battle to gain access to and control of its valuable natural assets. China's role in Africa has loomed particularly large in recent years, but there is now a new scramble taking pl...

A decade ago no one except geologists had heard of tantalum or 'coltan' - an obscure mineral that is an essential ingredient in mobile phones and laptops. Then, in 2000, reports began to leak out of Congo: of mines deep in the jungle where coltan was extracted in brutal conditions watched over by warlords. The United Nations sent a team to investigate, and its exposé of the relationship between violence and the exploitation of coltan and other natural resources contributed to a re-examinat...