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The 52:52:52 project, launching both on this site and on social media in early 2024 will help you address 52 issues with 52 responses over 52 weeks.

A Mundane Comedy is Dominic Kelleher's new book, which will be published in mid 2024. The introduction is available here and further extracts will appear on this site and on social media in the coming months.

This site addresses what's changing, in our own lives, in our organisations, and in wider society. You'll learn about key changes across more than 150 areas, ranging from ageing and time, through nature and animals, to kindness and love...and very much else inbetween.

Halcyon's aim is to help you reflect on how you can better deal with related change in your own life.

On Recession

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Of Mice and Men - redux?  Chastening and often stunning images of the impact that global recession can have in our day and age might suggest so, yet the blooming sunflower might suggest too that hope springs eternal or, as Roy Harper puts it so lyrically, "through all destruction flies new dawn".

Man such sunflowers constantly emerge, displaying a wide variety of proposed "antidotes to the pessimism of the post-crisis world". If you'd like to hear constructive suggestions for our way ahead economically, you could also listen to the following podcasts:

  • New Global Economics: The Shock: Martin Wolf, chief economics commentator of the Financial Times, examined how the world economy has changed since the beginning of the financial crisis four years ago. Contributors include US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde and FSA chairman Adair Turner.

  • New Global Economics: The Shift: Martin Wolf then asked what changes are needed to the global financial system if the world is to fully recover from the worst economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s. Contributors include: Larry Summers, of Harvard and former member of Barack Obama's economic team; Zhu Min, deputy managing director, IMF and formerly of the Bank of China and Adair Turner, FSA chairman.

  • Darwin economy: Adam Smith’s theory of the invisible hand, which holds that competition channels self-interest for the common good, is probably the most widely cited argument in favour of unbridled competition – and against taxation, regulation, and even government itself. But what if Smith’s idea was almost an exception to the general rule of competition? Economist Professor Robert Frank argued that Charles Darwin’s understanding of competition describes economic reality far more accurately than Smith’s, and that within the next century Darwin will unseat Smith as the intellectual founder of economics.

  • Circular economy: Speakers at a recent RSA event explained how to start creating "cradle-to-cradle" organisations, who can dramatically lower their environmental impact and increase their "eco-effectiveness", as part of a wider drive towards developing a true "circular economy".

  • Third Industrial Revolution: Author, political adviser and ‘social and ethical prophet’ Jeremy Rifkin explored how internet technology and renewable energy are merging to create a powerful ‘Third Industrial Revolution.’ He asked us to imagine hundreds of millions of people producing their own green energy in their homes, offices, and factories, and sharing it with each other in an ‘energy internet,’ just like we now create and share information online.

  • The Future of Money: Digital money expert Dave Birch discusses has the mobile phone replaced cash for good.

Meanwhile, a respected economic adviser explained how economics, though often touted as a science, is actually a cultural phenomenon, which began within philosophy and is also woven out of history, myth, religion, and ethics.

See also:

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