As of March 2026, this website is no longer being updated. I now work mainly on climate issues, especially in Brighton and Hove, and new work can be found on the website of Climate:Change, our independent think-tank on socially inclusive action in the City: www.climatechangebh.org.uk.
Meanwhile, however, this website has over 850 entries, mostly representing my work on international development from 2010-2025. Among much else, there are over 50 book reviews, more than 20 papers and training cases on bridging research and policy and on managing think-tanks, and many papers on other topics, including aid, food security and nutrition, and the future of international development. See ‘Topics and Themes’ for more details. I can be reached at sm@simonmaxwell.net.
Reading between the lines. Is EU aid in trouble?
Reading between the lines. Is EUEuropean Union aid in trouble? ODIOverseas Development Institute (London) Blog, June 2008
This blog is an excerpt from a longer background paper. If you are interested in finding out more about the issues, and reading more from the papers I mention, I encourage you to read my background paper too.
The EU Council meeting on 19 and 20 June represents an important marker in this year of the Call to Action on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Unusually, the main European Council itself will have the MDGsMillennium Development Goals on the agenda. That’s just as well. There are some serious issues to consider, including the failure of European donors to meet their commitments on aid, both in terms of the levels of funding and in delivering harmonisation and alignment. Most importantly, however, the future of the MDG project itself will be debated.................. (see link in title for full article)