Robin Perry

'Emergency politics podcasts sir... thousands of 'em'

First chapter of Mission Driven Bureaucrats now free to read here: academic.oup.com/book/57377/cha…. Thanks!

A Gates Foundation style post, full of decent economics and noble humanitarianism, but the new anti-politics machine. There will be a likely be a debt crisis in several African countries and it’s better to get ahead of it. But nowhere is it implied that there are deep political problems at root, and few are solved. The war in Ethiopia is treated as something that just happened to it, alongside locusts. Several African leaders are quoted saying “we ought to spent on better things in future” without any thought to actual incentives, and how the structure of debt relief and aid can address them.

Coming to Google Translate: Tetun, Tok Pisin, Balinese, Fijian, Acehnese, and many other languages of SEA & the Pacific! Let's test quality when they release, but potentially a small revolution in MT for our region blog.google/products/trans…

Read @brhodes on the dangers of a second Trump term—and how, if reelected, Biden can build a foreign policy agenda that resonates with more of the world’s governments and people: trib.al/qgSX92S

@Dicker_JJ And the flaunting of a red cape for COLA

possibly my finest work

Great to see #AP4D's work cited by @devintellab's @HeatherMurphy in her latest for @devpolicy. She says "fresh thinking & serious effort" are needed for DFAT to become a "world-class #development agency". "A tool [of #statecraft] is only as powerful as the hand that wields it."

Obits of Li Keqiang mention his wife translated Yes Prime Minister into Chinese. When I was in the Embassy there in late 80s we lent our videos of Yes Minister to MFA. When we asked for them back they said they were using them to train Chinese diplomats @vtchakarova

@PaulFletcherMP Scraping the bottom of the hollow, grubby Libs barrel

Question time should be finishing now but Airbus Albo cancelled Parl't this week. His excuse: a trip to the US. He cancelled a week of Parl't last year. His excuse: the death of Queen Elizabeth II. He’s only scheduled 17 weeks in the Reps next year. Excuse: ASEAN. See a pattern?

It’s the precious moments like these 💚 @SiyaKolisi | #RWC2023

Trees of New Guinea: - Guide to all 693 genera - Fully illustrated - PDF available on request! shop.kew.org/trees-of-new-g…

A moment before the war - we were in Israel and the West Bank a few weeks ago documenting rising tensions there before the Israel/Gaza war - this is our 30-minute report youtu.be/H7fG0FeVc1o?si… #foreigncorrespondent @ABCTV

Interesting from Jose Ramos-Horta this morning on @RNBreakfast - he says China *turned down* requests from Timor Leste to help develop police and military infrastructure because of Australian "sensitivities" He's also v bullish on Greater Sunrise; solution by "early next year"

Who makes it all the way? #RWC2023

The certainty with which The Economist approaches most economic questions about which we have the foggiest notions never ceases to amaze me.

Just seen this now — wow!

Only in #Canberra! An incredible cumunlonimbus cloud formation that appeared over Canberra's skies in the form of a heart pumping blood. Second picture shows a few minutes later..

A photograph of an intense card game in Bogor, Indonesia has won this year’s CEWE Photo Award, beating over half a million other entries. The CEWE Photo Award 2023 photo competition had 10 different categories celebrating the theme '‘Our world is beautiful’. This week, the 10 winning images from 509,612 entries were announced. Ariani Dikye, from Indonesia, was judged to have captured the best photograph, with her photograph “Warung kopi” which was selected as winner of both the ‘people’ category and the overall contest. "Warung kopi – a place where people meet and hang out in Bogor, Indonesia" - Photograph: Dikye Ariani cewe.co.uk/cewe-photo-awa…