Bøger af Andrew Simms

From Anita Roy's introduction... On 11 March, 2020, Andrew Simms created a WhatsApp group. He and his fellow poets and co-conspirators, Nicky Saunter and Nick Robins, decided to call it, with admirable clarity, One Poem a Week. Each of the friends posted one poem every week, on a theme randomly chosen by one of them, a theme often sparked by the news of the day, or the time of the year - and sometimes both. It was a way of staying connected - with each other, and with the wider world - during those crazy months of the Covid pandemic when everything was going pear-shaped and viral. When I was added, a few months into the project, the first image that arrived was a photograph of bright green acorns. "Turn your back for a second and these are everywhere..." said Andrew, with a surprise- face emoji. To which Nick shot back a poem, 'Hum', punctuated liberally with emojis of his own, featuring sizzling sunbeams, syncopated galaxies, and the skitter of beeswings. They were on a roll. The rolling and scrolling kept on, gathering momentum, as this renga of renegades passed the poetic baton to and>What grew from these green acorns was a project that has, til date, produced a small forest: hundreds of poems, images, jokes, and - yes - emojis, that together have created a sort of tapestry, not quite Bayeux in its scope but like it, conveying a vivid snapshot of lived experience. You will find in both the first selection (entitled Plague Poems) and this current crop, a slice of the times: political events, seasonal shifts, the upswing and downturn of moods, personal and societal. Many of the poems deal directly with the stark contemporary reality of climate change and ecosystem collapse. This forms the sort of tone, the background hum, the energy behind the poems themselves: it is the colour, or ground, against which everything is set - like the pale linen upon which the needleworkers of Bayeux embroidered their coloured yarns. But the overall result is far from despairing or dark. You will find here laughter, surprise, joy even. There is in this collection of poems a reflection of the variety of responses we all have to these crises, as we swing between hope and despair, resilience, anger, resistance, love. And always the sharp reminder of nature's continuance, her ever-changing, ever-generous sharing of beauty and abundance - against all odds. So, defrost your soul. Discover what opens hearts as easily as pub doors. Kick up your heels in glorious>In other words: read on. Anita RoyApril 2023

Bewildered by the modern world? Folk tales throughout history explore the extremes of human experience and help us make sense of them. With dazzling and original twists this new collection of modern folk tales explores everything from mobile phones to the refugee crisis, celebrity, climate change and the banks. Uniquely, the contributors are not just story tellers, but leading, independent authorities on the earth sciences, the environment, finance, economics, inequality, social policy and more.From tales of deeply questionable corporations, to mysterious phone apps and a natural world fighting back, Knock twice unleashes creative minds to run riot over problems that seem unsolvable in the impoverished arena of daily politics. These are modern folk tales for troubling times because we're unlikely to get a better world without using our imaginations. Knock twice, open the covers and see what happens..."Stories are one of the most ancient and most effective ways of making sense of the world... When we try to live a good life in a world we seem to be simultaneously destroying, there is nothing more valuable or worth encouraging."Philip Pullman, on the first collection in this series, There was a knock at the door

Uncovers the devastating psychological, social and environmental costs of advertising

Journey through tales that are startlingly modern yet rooted in ancient story telling traditions. From dark encounters with today's threats, to witty, mordant observations on the human condition, storytelling itself and timeless questions about how best to live, the authors update the folk tale, with several unusual twists. A foreword from one of our greatest story tellers, Philip Pullman, introduces writing from the Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, professional tellers of tales and leading figures working at the cutting edge of issues ranging from climate change to reform of the banking system, local neighbourhood revival and a more humane drug policy. These are modern folk tales for a troubled world because, sometimes, the only way to get out of a terrible mess is by using your imagination. Dive in and read your way to a better place

An eye-opening and enlightening examination of the best of society from the acclaimed author of Cancel the Apocalypse.

Economics sometimes seems to be stacked against social, environmental and individual well-being. This book describes the problems and bizarre contradictions in conventional economics as well as the principles of new economics, and it tells real-world stories of how new economics is being successfully put into practice around the world.

You can shop anywhere you like -- as long as it's Tesco The inexorable rise of supermarkets is big news but have we really taken on board what this means for our daily lives, and those of our children? In this searing analysis Andrew Simms, director of the acclaimed think-and-do-tank the New Economics Foundation and the person responsible for introducing 'Clone Towns' into our vernacular, tackles a subject none of us can afford to ignore. The book shows how the supermarkets -- and Tesco in particular -- have brought: "e; Banality -- homogenized high streets full of clone stores "e; Ghost towns -- superstores have drained the life from our town centres and communities "e; A Supermarket State -- this new commercial nanny state that knows more about you than you think "e; Profits from poverty -- shelves full of global plunder, produced for a pittance "e; Global food domination -- as the superstores expand overseas But there's change afoot, with evidence of the tide turning and consumer campaigns gaining ground. Simms ends with suggestions for change and coporate reformation to safeguard our communities and environment -- all over the world. This book has been written and published independently from the Tescopoly Alliance and is not endorsed by them.

Millions of people in the West are running up huge ecological debts: from the amount of oil and coal that we burn to heat our houses and run our cars, to what we consume and the waste that we create, the impact of our lifestyles is felt worldwide. *BR**BR*Whilst these debts go unpaid, millions more living in poverty in the majority world suffer the burden of paying dubious foreign financial debts. Ecological Debt explores this great paradox of our age. Highlighting how and why this has happened, it also shows what can be done differently in the future. *BR**BR*Now updated throughout, this is a passionate account of the steps we can take to stop pushing the planet to the point of environmental bankruptcy.

The real story of the companies that run our everyday lives by the author of Tescopoly.