The Rwandan government has 1.5 pages (front page and p.5) in this Financial Times special report on doing business in their country.
About Me
- Thank you for visiting my blog
- An urbanist and writer, I have fifteen years of political and economic journalism experience and now specialise in urban policy and communications. Formerly head of the economic service for The Associated Press in Paris and Bloomberg’s chief political reporter in France, I have covered a breadth of industry sectors and political issues working across the globe. Recently, I have focusing on London and West Africa in policy and communications roles for organisations including the Centre for London think tank, the Financial Times and the Town and Country Planning Association. I have an RTPI-accredited masters in spatial planning from the Bartlett (UCL), where I specialised in regeneration with a focus on London’s East End and the Olympic Park area. You can follow some of my thoughts and actions in the planning blog on the right hand side of this page. Underneath the photo, you can click for a link to my CV (with details of how to contact me if you would like to employ me for freelance writing, research, PR or advisory work), or click on journalism for links to sample articles and information about my 2007 book on French politics 'Schizophrenie Francaise.'
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Addiction and families
I have been working with Demos on a research project that looks at how a problematic relationship
with alcohol among at least one parent can impact on parenting and
children’s perceptions of alcohol. This includes assessing the impact of
‘family-based interventions’ and the extent to which they focus on
parenting support and preventing the transference of problem behaviour
to the children of alcoholics.
It is a theme I have been researching for some time for my debut novel, Twisted Ladder, is being represented by the Dystel & Goderich literary agency. It is a study of addiction, and its hereditary implications.
You can read more here about the Demos project.
It is a theme I have been researching for some time for my debut novel, Twisted Ladder, is being represented by the Dystel & Goderich literary agency. It is a study of addiction, and its hereditary implications.
You can read more here about the Demos project.
Friday, August 24, 2012
The Golden Age of French cinema - and other stories
The summer edition of the Invest in France journal is now out. It is the first that I have put together. I chose to focus on French cinema partly because of the success of The Artist, a film that I can't imagine having been made elsewhere, and also to recognise the growing numbers of foreign filmakers turning to France, among them Britain's Ken Loach. I also enjoyed discovering more about the French water cluster in the South of France after we chose Languedoc Roussillon as our focus region.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
More Tech City press
Two weeks after the launch of our Tale of Tech City report, it is still being talked about! Which can only be a good thing.
Latest is a short piece I collaborated on for Estates Gazette - as Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said at our launch, maybe not all tech entrepreneurs have heard about Tech City, but 100% of property industry professionals have!
The FT ran a piece the day after the report, and The Observer covered our scenarios for future growth.
The Guardian published a second piece, this time on their local government network by Dr Sean Carey, a social anthropologist leading a research project on Digital Shoreditch for the University of East London. Interestingly, his points about the white-male makeup of the cluster reflect those I made when speaking at the Place East London conference, when I fessed up to my social anthropology roots!
And the academics have been talking, both at LSE's Spatial Economics Research Centre, and at UCL's CASA.
The business community is talking about us too!
Latest is a short piece I collaborated on for Estates Gazette - as Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said at our launch, maybe not all tech entrepreneurs have heard about Tech City, but 100% of property industry professionals have!
The FT ran a piece the day after the report, and The Observer covered our scenarios for future growth.
The Guardian published a second piece, this time on their local government network by Dr Sean Carey, a social anthropologist leading a research project on Digital Shoreditch for the University of East London. Interestingly, his points about the white-male makeup of the cluster reflect those I made when speaking at the Place East London conference, when I fessed up to my social anthropology roots!
And the academics have been talking, both at LSE's Spatial Economics Research Centre, and at UCL's CASA.
The business community is talking about us too!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Algeria
Algeria is celebrating 50 years of independence, as noted in the Financial Times. We spent a wonderful three days in the country during the celebrations: lovely people, lovely food, and a wealth of opportunities. That's me making friends with the mascot of the environment ministry.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Tale of Tech City is out!
Such was the demand for our report on Tech City that the Wall Street Journal, BBC Online and The Independent either got ahold of a leaked copy (not from us!) or broke the embargo after the toothpaste was out of the tube.
The report, by myself, Dr Max Nathan and CfL Deputy Director Rob Whitehead, is now available for free download here: http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/ataleoftechcity
Meanwhile, media interest continues unabated, starting with The Guardian, whose Tech Editor Charles Arthur called me yesterday for an interview, the first time since my 2007 book Schizophrenie Francaise was published that I'd been on the recieving end of journalists questions.
At today's event, where Rob was interviewed for BBC London (to feature on the lunchtime news), it was standing room only.
Meanwhile, the regeneration community was paying attention, notably Richard Florida, the 'government's guru' known for his 'creative class' concept, writing in Altantic Cities. Reports also in
in ELR News, and Reneration & Renewal.
The Tech community, of course, had plenty to say, including at Tech World and of course, on Twitter under #techcity.
A piece I wrote for The Tech City Insider on connectivity appeared under the headline Techs and The City, a title we toyed with for the report.
The property industry, who Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said today will determine in which direction the cluster moves, was well represented at the event, and will soon be reading about the report. An article by myself and Sandra Jones of Ramidus Consulting, who has done her own research with the EGi property database, will appear in Estates Gazette on July 14.
No doubt there will be more to come. On Twitter, debate suggests how our report is digested will be important - as well as follow up research on how the cluster can best serve the local community, and on the tech scene more broadly across London and further afield. As TechCrunch Europe Editor Mike Butcher said in a tweet (@mikebutcher) "It's the report after this one that counts."
The report, by myself, Dr Max Nathan and CfL Deputy Director Rob Whitehead, is now available for free download here: http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/ataleoftechcity
Meanwhile, media interest continues unabated, starting with The Guardian, whose Tech Editor Charles Arthur called me yesterday for an interview, the first time since my 2007 book Schizophrenie Francaise was published that I'd been on the recieving end of journalists questions.
At today's event, where Rob was interviewed for BBC London (to feature on the lunchtime news), it was standing room only.
Meanwhile, the regeneration community was paying attention, notably Richard Florida, the 'government's guru' known for his 'creative class' concept, writing in Altantic Cities. Reports also in
in ELR News, and Reneration & Renewal.
The Tech community, of course, had plenty to say, including at Tech World and of course, on Twitter under #techcity.
A piece I wrote for The Tech City Insider on connectivity appeared under the headline Techs and The City, a title we toyed with for the report.
The property industry, who Deputy London Mayor Kit Malthouse said today will determine in which direction the cluster moves, was well represented at the event, and will soon be reading about the report. An article by myself and Sandra Jones of Ramidus Consulting, who has done her own research with the EGi property database, will appear in Estates Gazette on July 14.
No doubt there will be more to come. On Twitter, debate suggests how our report is digested will be important - as well as follow up research on how the cluster can best serve the local community, and on the tech scene more broadly across London and further afield. As TechCrunch Europe Editor Mike Butcher said in a tweet (@mikebutcher) "It's the report after this one that counts."
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