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CAPITALISM – no longer fit for purpose ?

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The vast majority of humanity survive on a few dollars a day.    The economic boom of the last fifty years has benefited a relatively small elite. The fossil fuel driven economy has devastated the planet. Capitalism is the most efficient creator of wealth but it has been derailed and it has led to inequality and environmental degradation on a global scale. Global warming and capitalism’s favourite progeny – globalisation – has triggered social movements,   political discontent and massive migration.    There are more economic and political migrants seeking greener pastures than at any time in history. Increased Government participation in the economy both directly and through regulation is required to temper the excesses of laissez-faire capitalism. Degrowth means uncoupling the link between growth and prosperity.        Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ has been the single biggest driver of the phenomenal economic growth enjoyed globally over the last two hundred years
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WHY WE SHOULD VALUE OUR OCEANS

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   The oceans have acted as ‘airbags’ in the slow motion car crash that is climate change.    They have absorbed much of the impact and protected us humans from immediate danger - apart from a 'little' whiplash i.e.  heatwaves, floods, droughts and storms. About 30% of CO2 emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution have been absorbed by the oceans.   So, humans on land have been spared the worst of the impact of atmospheric heating (caused by increased CO2 and other GHG concentrations) that would have otherwise taken place did we not have the oceans.     But this has come at a huge cost : (1)      increased acidification of the ocean (pH has gone from 8.3 to 8.2) it's logarithmic - so actually a 30% increase in acidity ,   and : (2)    Increased temperature of the oceans – especially in the top layer ( up to 700m depth ) – since the 1970’s the oceans have trapped up to 90% of all excess heat energy trapped by GHG’s.     This is about 0.6 degrees C.  
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POLITICIANS CAPTURED BY THE FOSSIL FUEL INDUSTRY ARE ACCELERATING THE EARTH’S DEMISE

  The Summer of 2022 will be remembered as the season when global temperature records were broken systematically.    When more temperature records were broken in more places than ever before.    All the way across Europe and the UK records are being shattered as wildfires wreak havoc upon the natural and the built environment.   China, India and the USA have also broken heat records and there is no let-up in sight.   (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/with-record-breaking-heat-europe-glimpses-its-climate-future/)   The environments in cities and towns are increasingly becoming hostile to human habitation and this will lead to more migration.       How has this come about?   We are living in the Anthropocene geological age  – the period in earth’s history when Man has made a significant impact on the environment.      It started (in earnest) at the time of the Industrial revolution when the energy that could be unlocked from fossil fuels (most nota
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Location: London, UK
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REALIGNMENT FOR BUSINESS IN A POST COVID19 WORLD

Introduction – Macro context The COVID 19 pandemic will form a schism in the timeline of history.   History will be divided into the time before and the time after, the COVID19 Pandemic.    There have been comparable events in history (each with their own pre and post features ) – the First World War;   the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1919;   the Great Depression of 1929;   the Second World War;   the Cold War and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008/9.     Regionally there have also been major events like 9/11 in NYC and the end of Apartheid in SA in 1994 – where-after life was never the same again, especially for Black South Africans.   In 1992 Francis Fukuyama suggested the end of history following the Cold War and the collapse of communism (Berlin Wall / Soviet Union) and its manifest failure.   The worldwide spread of liberal democracies and free-market capitalism and its lifestyle then signalled the end point of humanity's sociocultural evolution to become the fin
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HOW CAN GOVERNMENTS GROW THE DIGITAL ECONOMY ( IN AFRICA) ?

Government authorities have a key role to play in facilitating the emergence of a digital economy.    Their mission does not only entail adopting and enforcing appropriate and effective regulations but also ensuring that existing infrastructure is leveraged for optimal utilization.   The participants in this strategic workshop will work on ways to make governments and regulators true catalysts for digitalization, with the support of all sector players. This  is the subject matter of a discussion to be held at the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan next week.  These are my initial thoughts.  All comments welcome. In Africa we have seen the emergence of a mobile telephony market which went from zero to over a billion phones in just over two decades.   The mobile industry requires tight regulation because of the use of a scarce resource – spectrum.    The role of Government has thus, of necessity,   been important in the growth of this industry.    The recent fine i
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