Kiva - loans that change lives
By Steve Hanlon | June 9, 2008
I received an email from an old colleague today about www.kiva.org a website where loans can be made to people in the developing world. Referred to as a “micro-lending”, it’s a truly amazing site and a great alternative to blind giving.
I’ll quote from their “about us” page:
Kiva’s mission is to connect people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.
Kiva is the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs in the developing world.
The people you see on Kiva’s site are real individuals in need of funding - not marketing material. When you browse entrepreneurs’ profiles on the site, choose someone to lend to, and then make a loan, you are helping a real person make great strides towards economic independence and improve life for themselves, their family, and their community. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates and track repayments. Then, when you get your loan money back, you can relend to someone else in need.
Topics: Politics | 3 Comments »
Weird duplicate postings
By Steve Hanlon | June 4, 2008
Not sure why, but I’m getting duplicate postings on this site. There must be something funny going on behind the scenes, and perhaps it’s time for a wordpress upgrade. Grrr… Something to sort out this evening.
Update: update worked. Happy now… back to family guy.
Topics: Techie | No Comments »
Merseyrail presses Network Rail to handover running tracks
By Steve Hanlon | June 4, 2008
This, in the Liverpool Daily Post says that transport chiefs in Merseyside are lobbying for control of the railway tracks. Apparently they’ve been pushing for the past two years for this, and despite the headline, it doesn’t look like there’s been much movement forward in the idea. However, it seems that Merseyrail are still pushing for it. And good on them for trying.
The only way that sub-regional areas will get the railways that they need is if there is control at the sub-regional level. It would make perfect sense for Merseyrail to take control of the lines - in exactly the same way that it would make sense for GMPTE to control the Greater Manchester side (and while we’re at it, a Lancashire Passenger Transport Executive would be good!)
Of course we then get back to the wider city-region / metropolitan county council debate, but that’s not a bad thing. Where there is sub-regional decision making, there should be appropriate representation.
In the meantime, good luck to Merseyrail.
Topics: Local Politics, West Lancs | 1 Comment »
Personal fundraising - we should be doing this
By Steve Hanlon | June 3, 2008
Christopher Locke, author of Gonzo Marketing and The Cluetrain Manifesto, sent out a message from his RageBoy/Gradient Entropy Reversals blog/list over the weekend to this personal fundraising page on Barack Obama’s campaign site.
It’s so simple, I’m astonished that this hasn’t been done here. An individual can create a page to raise money and then send the link around to colleagues, friends, crusty old mailing list lurkers.
With party finances as they are, we need to be looking to different ways of raising money. This is a neat idea, simply executed and I imagine, raising millions for the senator. It empowers the individual supporters, isn’t party based and reduces the need for big backers.
Tags: politics, fundraising, usa
Topics: Politics | No Comments »
Hung parliament speculation
By Steve Hanlon | May 29, 2008
Found in my drafts from a couple of weeks ago….
Peter Kellner speculates on the Progress blog about what might happen if there is a hung parliament after the next GE. Rather than the usual stuff about jumping into bed with the Fib Dems it sets out a couple of scenarios and what might happen in each.
It’s a much more thoughtful article than I’ve seen in the past which might indicate that we need to be realistically planning for these eventualities.
Rather than delete it, I’m posting it now because I notice that Rob Alcock mentioned it here and acknowledges it as a useful article - even if I would disagree with the description of Progress as a “New Labour think-tank-cum-ginger-group”!!
Topics: Local Politics | No Comments »
West Lancs District Council - Committee Papers online
By Steve Hanlon | May 28, 2008
A useful link for anyone interested in West Lancs District Council:
http://webdocs.westlancsdc.gov.uk/Coins/
I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before, but this system is one of the most interesting on the WLDC site. You can get papers for all the public meetings, information about councillors and which committees they sit on.
For example, next week’s Executive Overview and Scrutiny committee’s meeting agenda and papers are here. Ironically however, the interesting stuff - the papers about the Skem Town Centre project and those relating to Firbeck and Findon, aren’t yet available…. ho hum!
Topics: Local Politics, West Lancs | No Comments »
Free Our Bills! (TheyWorkForYou.com)
By Steve Hanlon | May 28, 2008
TheyWorkForYou is a great resource for seeing how your local MP has been representing you in Parliament. When I last dropped in on their site they were promoting their Free Our Bills! campaign.
Quite sensibly they have been encouraging Parliament to publish proceedings in a way that can be better understood by computers. This might sound irrelevant, but it could change the way that people engage with the way that our legislation is made.
For example, if you were interested in a particular issue and wanted to follow the debate and progress of legislation through parliament, then legislation that can be ‘understood’ by a computer would mean that you could be kept informed quicker and easier. Similar to the way that XML and RSS feeds keep people up to date on a plethora of other information sources.
It would hardly cost the taxpayer anything, but could radically change the way that people engage with law-making. If you have the time, please show your support.
Topics: Politics, Techie | No Comments »
Train line reopens after 40 years. Lessons for Burscough Curves?
By Steve Hanlon | May 28, 2008
News from last week about train line reopening after 40 years in Scotland. Reminded me of the Burscough Curves which must be around their 40th anniversary of being closed. Like the Ormskirk bypass the local papers flip-flop between optimism and pessimism about the future of the project; and just at the moment there seems to be a feeling that neither will happen soon.
This week’s Champ reports that a transport minister said that the curves will only happen when a private company stumps up the cash, which sounds like a death-knell to me (or a continue-to-be-dead knell). A brief read through the Scottish Transport Agency’s site about the Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine railway suggests that it is public money that paid for the project.
It might be that John Pugh has the business plan tucked away somewhere to convince one of the rail companies to reopen the curves, but I doubt it. Unless this project is supported by central government, then it won’t happen. And ultimately that means all the local MP’s pushing for it.
At a time when there’s no end in sight of the petrol price rises, the key investment has to be in local public transport. Arguably, the investment should be put in when the economy is going well, but that’s a different subject. If it’s a straight choice between more trains and buses locally or, say, more roads, then surely we should be putting the money into public transport.
Topics: West Lancs | 2 Comments »
Pilkington invests £40m in Northwest facilities
By Steve Hanlon | May 28, 2008
This press release reports that Pilkington is investing £40m in new facilities in St Helens. Great news locally, but the bit that jumped out for me was this paragraph:
The coating facility will produce Activ self cleaning glass. It will use nanotechnology developed down the road at the company’s European Technical Centre at Lathom, near Ormskirk, to produce coated glass for the solar cell and thermal installation markets.
This is the sort of news that we should be shouting from the roof-tops. Pilkington’s technical centre in Lathom is a world leading research centre, and it’s on our doorstep. Research and development at the centre has led to a £40m investment in neighbouring St Helens. Yes, Pilks is now owned by Nippon Sheet Glass, but the lesson is that British R&D can lead to re-investment in Britain.
Tags: westlancs
Topics: West Lancs | No Comments »
between the lines
By Steve Hanlon | May 28, 2008
I thought things had gone very quiet for local journalists blogging since David Sudworth shuffled off his journalistic coil, but I’m pleased to see that Robert Alcock has stepped into his shoes with his take on the local political scene. Of course, I’m seven months late noticing this - so everyone will have come across this already.
It’s mostly about Southport politics, but I’ve recently noticed his name in the advertiser, so perhaps we’ll see some postings about the political life in West Lancs. Regardless, it’s a good read - keep up the good work Rob :-)
Topics: Local Politics | No Comments »