Bravery In Northampton

This is fantastic.

As six robbers attempt to smash and grab a jewellery shop in Northampton, an older woman runs into the midst of the gang and attacks them with only a handbag.

The group is confused, panics, and escape – one of them falls off his moped and is held by other people passing by, who have now run into the confrontation.

Someone was filming the entire episode – obviously not daring to stop the criminals as they crow-barred the windows. It took one person to run in – full in the knowledge of danger – until others joined her.

h/t Shilpa Shah

The Power Of Vulnerability

This is one hell of a TED talk. Brene Brown is an ethnographic researcher and looks at our emotions of shame, courage and vulnerability.

It starts with humour, takes you through her personal experience – and packs a real punch at the end.

• Shame is the fear of disconnection
• “Sleep is comfortable, but awakening is interesting.” Inayat Khan
• We’re numbing our emotions – both good and bad.
• There isn’t discourse in politics and mysticism in religion anymore, just blame.

You can follow Brene on twitter.
h/t Laurie Walmsley.

Link Loving 08.02.11

• OpenLeft closes it’s doors. Thanks for the memories, kids.
• There is a list of 50 ‘Northern Lights’ – the names to watch out for from Northern England, as compiled by ippr.
• Corey Allan says that relationships are easy – when the wind blows hard, adjust your sails – not the wind.
• My favourite mid-Welsh cartoonist strikes again, this time taking on worthy activists.
• Alexandra Petri puts the ‘pun’ in punditry as she takes on CNN’s hilarious coverage as Anderson Cooper arrives in Egypt.
• Penny Red accepts that with power, comes great responsibility. And that she has to do the washing up now and then.
• It’s hard not to be inspired by the monthly updates from the Transition movement, via Rob Hopkins.
• Dawn Foster finds her inner King Solomon and judges the three main political parties on their use of the word ‘progressive’.
• Alan Finlayson explains why Compass moving (potentially) to open itself to members of any political party is indicative of more pluralist times. Good news indeed.
• Naked Capitalism on how the UK is about to implement a major tax break for banks.
• This just doesn’t get old – pranking corporate brands on twitter. This time, @KennethColePR.

Van Jones Uncloaks The Kochs

You’ll have read this piece on the Koch brothers in the LA Times of course, so you’ll know that their encroachment into the heart of the Republican Party spells bad news for climate and clean energy advocates Stateside.

Over the last weeks, progressives have started to ‘uncloak’ what’s going on here. Van Jones has been one of the voices shining a light on a murky story.

As previously mentioned, this blog has a policy that whenever he gives a speech, I post it – no further questions. It’s a pretty good policy.

• Listen how we he brings the room together – what shared experiences do they have, what shared values does he name?

• Listen how he re-frames this issue into one about the great American traditions of liberty, justice and democracy. How he brings in, with authenticity, the futures of children and of veterans returning home from war.

• Listen how he makes the people in the room – and those working on this issue – feel as if this is the most important thing they can be doing.

• Listen how he uses the story of the Tea Party as allies of his own agenda. This both widens the church of those who may support him, and also challenges the progressives in the room to reach out to non-traditional groups. He shows how this issue isn’t about Democrats vs Republicans, but the people vs a powerful elite. ‘The only way to challenge big money power, is to organise big people power.’

• Listen how he brings in the language of race – ‘liberty as a black man’, ‘work on a plantation for the Koch brothers’, ‘Jim Crowe and apartheid in America’ – to set the tone for 1) big changes can happen, 2) the innate goodness of the American people.

• Listen how he handles the hecklers – firm, but friendly and full of humour.

• Listen how he creates hope – ‘This country is better than that. Both parties are better than this.’

Obama And Sustainable Development

It just struck me that Obama’s three key policy goals fit nicely into the ‘nested’ model of Sustainable Development.

1. Healthcare
2. Financial Reform
3. Energy/Climate Legislation

I guess it’s a shame that the first one used up all political capital, the second hasn’t changed any fundamentals, and the third is dead in the water.

Your Carbon Briefing

Very exciting to see The Carbon Brief launch this week, the new hub of information on climate science in the media. They provide briefings on the people and organisations talking about climate change, and produce background materials on science issues and news stories. A valuable resource to journalists, no doubt.

Their profiles section will be particularly useful, as front-groups with scientific sounding names, can often end up being right-wing crackpots, or industry-funded lobby bodies. Could this end up being our very own version of James Delingpole? Except with, you know, a basic understanding of climate science and without an ego the size of Greenland?

Christian Hunt, formerly of Greenpeace and PIRC, has been one of the driving forces behind Carbon Brief, and anything that Christian puts his energy into is bound to succeed. Who can forget this magical/hilarious adventure…

Link Loving 07.02.11

• Where are all the women on Wikipedia? NY Times reports.
• Bill McKibben says welcome to the planet, circa 2011. Chilling.
• James Fallows finds a lot of similarities between the pragmatism of Reagan and Obama.
• The story that has rocked India’s media-world, “RadiaGate” leaves journalists soul-searching, says the WSJ.
• The White House White Board remains one of my favourite things, this time it’s Austan Goolsbee on Startup America.
• Remember the guy who challenged the Koch brothers to a debate during California’s Prop 23 last autumn? Now he – and a thousand others – followed the millions into the desert. (Though it’s time for some new chants folks…)
• Johann Hari explores a new foreign policy for the UK.
• Alain Gresh says that freedom makes you giddy.
• A spray-gun that shoots skin cells. But slightly more sophisticated. An amazing video on National Geographic.

Everyday Compassion

I met up with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau in Berkeley last year, and was as enchanted with her in person as I adore her podcast. She, along with Van Jones, is one of the best communicators I have ever heard – engaging, informative, passionate, warm, funny, truthful, sassy, and always – compassionate.

“Everyone says they want to make a difference. But I think we forget that in order to make a difference, we may have to do something different.” Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

Link Loving 06.02.11

• Blake Hounshell -next time you’re a dictator, remember these nine bullet points to avoid revolution.
• Ed Gillespie finds something of a modern-day ‘Seven Ages of Man’ in the new Do The Green Thing video.
• You know about the BRIC nations, have you met the MIST group? Let Simon Roughneen introduce you.
• I knew you know this, but in case you don’t think you know that you know… it’s worth knowing. h/t Niki Seth-Smith.
• Does it get any better? Vegans in a San Francisco Castro District bar watching Oprah. Colleen Patrick-Gudreau is unstoppable!
• This may be from 2005 – but how often do you get a dancing wombat talking about limits to growth?
• Nick Collins reports on claims that scientists have developed the ‘cyber-hug’. Skype anyone?
• Is this the world’s cruelest website?
• Jeremy Williams finds a nice graphic to illustrate our global landscape of risk.
• Damian Carrington scares the living daylights out of us with this story about the die-off in the Amazon.
• Sunny Hundal identifies three key problems with David Cameron’s ‘multiculturalism has failed’ speech.

Direct Action Training – Over The Internet

Direct action training is intense at the best of times, so you’d be forgiven for being sceptical about this introduction to non-violent civil disobedience put online by Brighton Uncut. In fact it’s really good. The right mix of practical and inspirational, lots of links to other readings etc – but the best bit is that it’s really a treasure hunt! You can’t read the next section without finding a clue from the previous one first. Genius.

h/t Rhizome