Externalities

Britain in the early 20th century and Brazil in the early 21st have in common an issue that infuriates the rich, empowers the poor and delights dramatists

Very interesting piece about the transition away from cheap domestic labour. With a guest appearance by Virginia Woolf.

The socialisation of the web is good. Monopolies are not.

The web is changing rapidly and I think this article is most likely prophetic (in the short/medium-term at least).

Facebook will become the World Wide Web for a large proportion of surfers.

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The overall effect that the Facebook Browser will have on users is a little harder to establish. On the one hand, Facebook will become an even better tool for discovering cool content on the web — and as most of our time on the web is spent consuming content, this must surely be a Good Thing. On the flip side, you will have to live with the fact that Facebook and its Big Media partners will not only know everything about you, but they will also dictate (via various algorithms and big, under-the-table sponsorship deals) what, when, and how you consume content.

Or you could choose to live in the Google-web instead (or additionally), or go without these tools…

I wonder what the internet would have looked like if single online identities had somehow been incorporated earlier (South Korea has some sort of system like this), rather than the whole thing being run by a private enterprise.

The News of the World phone hacking scandal has prompted an emergency debate in Parliament, but how were voicemails illicitly accessed and could it still happen?

I’m not sure why David Cameron chose today to release this news, given that it’s been entirely overshadowed by the phone-hacking scandal. He can’t have run out of bad news to bury.

The UK government has exceeded its own targets for greenhouse gas reductions, ministers announced on Wednesday. Central government emissions were cut by 14% in the past year, compared to the 10% reduction that had been promised.

The prime minister, David Cameron, applauded the effort but said he wanted to go further, pledging a 25% reduction in carbon from central government by the end of this parliament.

Officials said the reductions in the last year were the result of energy-saving measures, such as turning down air conditioning and turning off lights, rather than staff cuts, which had largely not taken effect when the reductions were calculated.

The new 25% commitment will mean an end to many of the perks enjoyed by ministers and civil servants, because travel will be included in the carbon targets for the first time. This will force senior MPs and officials to reconsider carbon-intensive travel such as ministerial cars and business class flights. (Business class passengers are allocated a greater share of a flight’s CO2 output because they occupy more space.)

And in related news:

• A vote in the European Parliament was a setback to upgrading the EU’s emissions targets to a 30% reduction by 2020.
• “The government confirmed it will run a series of trials from September in partnership with DIY retailers, local authorities and utilities, designed to encourage a greater uptake of energy efficiency measures and lay the ground work for next year’s Green Deal energy efficiency loan scheme.” Trials! To see if / how well policies work! Imagine that! The behavioural ‘nudging’ - such as comparative consumption data - is particularly interesting.
• DECC: UK can meet targets, despite slow renewables growth - “the UK’s share of renewable energy stands at 3.3 per cent, up from three per cent in 2009, but just over a fifth of the 15 per cent needed by the end of the decade.” To achieve this, electricity will have to go from 7.4% renewables to 30-35% by 2020. It could be an exciting decade!
• DECC warned it could ‘blow’ £11.3bn smart meter budget - That’s £213 per household and rising. It’d better be worth it.
• The ultimate guide to aviation’s inclusion in the EU emissions trading scheme - Aside from the opposition of the US and China, the most interesting point is this comment about possible developments in aviation: “radical options such as blended wing bodied aircraft and distributed engines are being investigated.” I wish the future would hurry up and get here: