Politics & Current Affairs - Current Affairs

…..I was watching Tony Blair recently on the telly addressing a conference. He walked on beaming and waving and then, while the crowd were still applauding, he 'apparently' recognised someone in the audience, pointed at them and made like he knew them and clearly hadn't seen them for some time. I first saw Clinton do it. I've got my own version of the same thing. It's a ploy. What comes across is 'Hey! Good to see you. Glad you could make it. How's the family? Nice one. Catch up with you laters.' What is really going on is the performer is demolishing the fourth wall and bonding with the room - 'I don't know you, I've never met you before and let's keep it that way. But hey, I'm an opportunist and you are my way of establishing a connection with this audience'. Politicians are learning the skills of the live performer. No big surprise there, until I saw news footage from Serbia and Vuk Drascovic was using the same technique. What next? The Indonesian Generals? 'Hey! Good to see you. How's the family? Do you want to see them again?' “There's a helluva lot here to set the mind racing and get the creative juices flowing.”
- Malcolm Hay, Time Out

“Tony Allen is the John The Baptist of modern comedy…Illuminating and irritating, exasperating yet exhilarating, this book is partial,
opinionated and intensely personal – and that's precisely what makes it so readable.”
- The Guardian Guide

Ilchi Lee's new book, EARTH CITIZEN, is humanity's passport to a whole new world. In the book, Lee asks us to shed old identities that are illusionary and divisive, and to take on a new identity - Earth Citizen. It is through this simple shift in self-identification, he argues, that the world can find the answers to its many complex problems. Lee contends that while the cultures of the world may remain diverse, we are all united by our dependence on a single planet - the Earth. For this reason, he says we must all find a way to place the Earth at the centre of our personal value systems. It is only by realising our common humanity through the Earth that we may come together as one to create a peaceful and sustainable way of life on the planet. BEST Life Media will donate 10% of the profits from the sale of this book to the 'Earth Citizen Movement' sponsored by the IBREA Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose mission is "to educate individuals, communities, and nations to realise the potential of the human brain to bring health, happiness and peace to all of humanity and the Earth." Author Ilchi Lee, as president of IBREA, will also donate all royalties to the Earth Citizen Movement.

A compilation of inspiring essays- gathered from a series of talks at the Sacred LinkÔ Freedom from Fear Conference - presents a vision for global healing and spiritual wellbeing. The Sacred LinkÔ conference brought together pioneers in this healing revolution - alternative energy experts diplomats business executives educators yoga teachers holistic health practitioners and environmentalists. Their keen insights and the overall image of hope that emerged at the end of this gathering sparked the idea for a book that would reach an even wider audience and stand as a lasting vision of a more peaceful and compassionate world. With an introduction by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait EMPOWERING THE SOUL examines spiritual growth and self-transformation on both a personal and global level and provides ideas for social regeneration and enlightened leadership. Introduces new experts/authors on current global issues regularly covered in the news eg. ending world poverty social regeneration energy alternatives.

In the hearts of volunteers who mobilise resources to build houses, “Habitat for Humanity” signifies caring. However, few people know that thirty years ago, successful entrepreneur Millard Fuller and his wife Linda left behind their materialistic lifestyle and crumbling marriage to start over as missionaries in Zaire. Upon returning to Georgia, they started building houses to bring new life to the poverty-stricken as their personal Christian ministry. Millard recruited Jimmy Carter to work with Habitat when he left the White House. Together they attracted leaders from church and state worldwide. Habitat became an international movement with 1700 affiliates and a Board of Directors comprised of increasingly large corporate donors. As it grew, a new, more secular vision evolved and eventually Millard and Linda found themselves alone starting over. The Fullers responded with “God is not done with us. Within days, they were back raising money and building houses for The Fuller Center for Housing - for Katrina victims and in Nepal, Nigeria and Romania. · In thirty years Habitat has become the largest volunteer builder in the world with 1700 affiliates and millions of donors and volunteers building homes for over a million people

Part career guide, part activist's handbook, THE IDEALIST.ORG HANDBOOK TO BUILDING A BETTER WORLD provides tools and inspiration for anyone who wants to make a difference but doesn't know where to start. Inspired by Idealist.org's 600,000-member online community and their ongoing search for work that gives back to the world, this practical reference walks readers through the different ways they can get involved and the range of possibilities for applying one's interests and skills to meet their community's needs. Idealist.org's staff gives a comprehensive understanding of the issues, options, organisations,and resources so readers can be proactive, whether it's through their current job, volunteering, donating, personal spending, board service, starting an organisation or changing careers.

Have you ever found yourself noticing certain patterns in the news you see and read each day? Perhaps it's the blatant fear-mongering in the absence of facts on your local 6 o'clock news (“Tsunami could hit the Atlantic any day!” EVERYBODY PANIC), or the seasonal articles that appear year after year like clockwork (“Roads will be crowded this holiday season.” Thanks AA.). IT'S NOT NEWS, IT'S FARK is Drew Curtis' clever examination of the state of the media today and a hilarious look at the go-to stories mass media uses when there's just not enough hard news to fill a newspaper or a news broadcast. Who is to blame for non-news in the media? Is it the media, or the media consumer and their website-clicking habits? Or does the answer lie somewhere in between? IT'S NOT NEWS, IT'S FARK takes a crack at why Drew exposes eight stranger-than-fiction media patterns that prove just how little reporting is going on in the world of reporters today. Regardless of whether it's a slow news day, mainstream media still has to deliver. IT'S NOT NEWS, IT'S FARK examines all the “news” that was never fit for print in the first place, and promises to have you laughing (with the media, mind you, not at them...) along the way. Let the hilarity ensue.

Have you ever wanted to change the world? Now is your chance. If you are concerned about climate change, personal health or just want to live a little more lightly on the planet, this book is for you.

An informative, easy-to-read consumer guide that outlines simple steps to improve your health and explains the consequences of your lifestyle on the planet. LIVING GREEN addresses diet, consumer products, home building and energy and explains sustainability and the green movement.

LIVING GREEN offers important guidelines and practical solutions such as:
· The 10 foods you should always eat organic to avoid pesticides,
herbicides, hormones and antibiotics
· Affordable and practical ways to offset your “carbon footprint”
and neutralise your personal impact on global warming
· The most chemically intensive personal care, household cleaning
and lawn care products, with effective natural alternatives
· How soft plastic water bottles hurt your health, your pocket book
and our environment, with a simple and refreshing alternative
· How a simple carbon filter can dramatically improve your
everyday health and potentially add years to your life
· The truth about hybrids and flex fuels
· Why an organic mattress is the most important health investment
you can make

What underlies the many problems of the modern world - from accelerating rates of extinction and desertification, to the increased alienation of the individual - is a reality overload, an increasingly invasive mechanisation and homogenisation of modern life that glorifies consumption and conformity. This overload has been created from the constant force-feeding of too much information, a phenomenon that dispossesses us of our deepest connections to time, our physical world and each other. Annie Le Brun explains that the degradation of the environment mirrors the devastation going on in our minds revealing a link between genetically modified foods and the transformation and decay of our language and communication. There is a direct relationship between the rupture of the great biological balances that govern the planet and the equally devastating rupture in our imaginal realm. The imaginal realm is the home of our dreams and the perceptions that feed our thoughts, individuality and creativity. Without its influence we are forced to live a drab, alienated lifestyle based on consumption alone. If, as Shakespeare claims, “we are such stuff as dreams are made on,” this theft of our imagination by the reality overload threatens the very foundations of our existence. · Shows how the constant force-feeding of too much information dispossesses us of our deepest connections · Describes a link between the destruction of the environment with the assault on our individuality, creativity and ability to think for ourselves