Robin Hood – He’s All Over the Media

Today’s launch of the Robin Hood Tax campaign has caused quite a stir in the media.

The Telegraph had a teaser for the video on the front page, leading to an opinion piece by Bill Nighy, who plays the banker being grilled about the Robin Hood Tax.

In the same company as Bill, Hannah French from the Edinburgh group has an opinion piece in the Scotsman! Sadly, you can’t read the article online as you need to be a subscriber, but we’ve got our hands on a copy you can download and read it for yourself here.

The Guardian has done a great job of covering it too, with an article and a letter from members of the coalition, of which RESULTS UK is a signatory.

Everyone seems to have gotten quite excited! The Mirror has covered it as a “Top News” item here, and Sky News Online posted an article up, here. The Independent has a good article here.

This really is a perfect opportunity to write to any and all of these newspapers and media outlets to show your support for the Robin Hood Tax. If you would like to refresh your memory by taking a look at the background materials RESULTS has already prepared on the issue of financial transaction taxes, you can get them from our website. Alternately, the main Robin Hood Tax website also has some information. Good luck!

Robin Hood Tax campaign officially launched

RESULTS UK is pleased to announce the launch of the Robin Hood Tax campaign here in the UK.

If you’ve been following RESULTS for a while, you’ll see that this is the culmination of a lot of work we have done previously on a Currency Transaction Levy and on a broader Financial Transaction Tax. We’ve been working with an unprecedented coalition of domestic charities, aid agencies, unions, faith organisations and green groups – more than 50 in all and set to rise now the campaign is public.

The main website for the campaign is at robinhoodtax.org.uk. We would highly recommend everyone go visit the site, and watch the Bill Nighy video. Nobody does “uncomfortable squirming” quite like Bill.

Global Campaign for Education launches a ‘Call to Action’ on education for all

At a Parliamentary event yesterday, the UK’s Global Campaign for Education launched a ‘Call for Action’ on Education for All which will be used over the next six months to frame a dialogue with parliamentarians about UK support for education internationally. The UK has been a global leader in education and it is hoped that it will continue to play this role in the future.

New RESULTS group launching in Aberdeen

We are really excited to announce that a new RESULTS group is starting up in Aberdeen in 2010. If you live in the Aberdeen area and are interested in getting involved in RESULTS or just want to find out more, please get in touch with Roderick Greig on roderick.greig.05@aberdeen.ac.uk.

Register now to attend Global Poverty Project launch events in February

A range of special events in February will kick off the Global Poverty Project around the UK. On February 24^th the Project will officially be launched at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London with guests including Douglas Alexander and the Archbishop of York. Open to everyone, this very special event will see the presentation 1.4 Billion Reasons delivered to 1,000 people under the Dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.

Join the Director of the Microcredit Summit Campaign in London this Friday to discuss Microfinance in Africa

Microcredit Summit Campaign Director Sam Daley-Harris will be in London this Friday to discuss the upcoming Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit which will be held in Nairobi, Kenya from April 7-10, 2010.  This will be a great opportunity to talk about microfinance in Africa with one of the leading advocates in the field.  

RESULTS National Conference: final days for registration!

RESULTS UK will be holding a National Conference over the weekend of 20-21 March 2010 in central London to bring together all our grassroots activists, staff and supporters across the UK. This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to spend two days together to learn more about key development issues and build advocacy and communications skills.

Welcome to our new Action Project Associate!

Hi there, my name is Aparna Barua and I would just like to take this opportunity to introduce myself! As of 21st January 2010 I became the Project Associate for the ACTION project. I have a background in Biochemistry and an MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Over the last 3 years I have been working in grass roots advocacy in rural India and the UK on HIV/AIDS issues. I am really excited to bring this experience into the ACTION project and tuberculosis. I have a passionate interest in global health and social development and I look forward to working closely with TB advocates in the UK and around the world!

My first two weeks on the job have been kicked off with a meeting with the UK Coalition to Stop TB and a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels to witness the inauguration of a new MEP Working Group on Innovation, Access to Medicines and Poverty Related diseases. Its still early days, but I believe this will be an interesting group to follow and keep an eye on, so watch this space!

DFID accused of having deliberately run down its support for agriculture in international development

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Agriculture and Food for Development has just published a new report, ‘Why no thought for food?’, which compiles responses from leading authorities in the field of agriculture to its inquiry into the UK’s role in addressing global food security.

This report unveils the fact that spending on agricultural programmes currently makes up just 3% of the Department for International Development’s (DFID) total annual aid expenditure. Despite the World Bank having uncovered that economic growth from agriculture generates at least twice as much poverty reduction as growth from any other sector, DFID has continued to oversee the steep decline in global Official Development Assistance (ODA) spent on agriculture, its share having fallen from 17% of ODA in 1982 to just 3.7% in 2002. In sub-Saharan Africa, the region worst hit by hunger and malnutrition, agriculture spending represents 0.3% of the DFID’s total aid.

RESULTS submits evidence to inquiry into 0.7% law

RESULTS UK has submitted written evidence to the International Development Select Committee today in order to share our views on a draft piece of legislation that was presented to Parliament last month.

The Government published its draft International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Bill on 15 January. The International Development Committee has been tasked with scrutinising the draft Bill and reporting its findings to the House.

The Official Development Assistance Target Bill, if passed, will for the first time place a legal duty on the government to ensure 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income (GNI) is spent on official development assistance (ODA) every year from 2013.