Open data has many uses. As well as being able to analyse data, it can be used to create online/offline apps and can help enhance existing websites.

As a keen observer of the cooperative movement for the past 30 years, the British writer and financial journalist Andrew Bibby has extensive knowledge of cooperatives and mutuals. In addition to publishing several books and working for various newspapers and magazines, Bibby has also undertaken work for the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), the International Labour Organization (ILO – Coop branch), Co-operatives UK and the Cooperative Group*. We asked him to trace the milestones ...

The word that crops up most often in the speeches of government ministers about development policy is ‘business’. It is worth asking, perhaps, what kind of business they mean. Doing business with foreign multinationals was once described to me as feeling like being a minnow in the sea when the sharks are around. What the sharks say is: “It is a free market, so let’s trade. You take a bite out of me and I will take one out of you.” This may be business, but it is not about ...