What does it mean to be poor? Before we can fight poverty, we need to understand it. International poverty campaigner Sabina Alkire will be speaking at Oxford Town Hall tomorrow (Tuesday 13th November) about using multidimensional indicators of poverty to build up a detailed picture and advocate effectively for the world’s poorest people.

I got this tip from the artist and designer Julian Dourado, who used to be my colleague on Leys News.

Once or twice a year, someone contacts me with a brilliant lead for an investigative journalist. Sometimes it’s a would-be whistleblower with inside information about an organisation, but more often than not it’s someone who’s discovered information that’s actually hidden in plain sight.

Jay Griffiths, Pip Pip:

A postcard from Twyford Down, where the car’s progress is bought at the expense of place. And what place. Once full of exquisite natural beauty, Twyford Down was carved up for a road, to save motorists three minutes of time and now it is just a nowhere, a cutting between places. The progress of the car was the only important thing, not that of walkers, of kite-flyers, of lovers or of children. Road protesters stood in front of bulldozers to stop it.

As we know, those road protesters failed.

I’ve always felt that the best marketing leaves the (potential) customer feeling in control. You’ve set out your stall to look as attractive as possible, and it’s up to them to browse. Of course you’re working hard behind the scenes to encourage them to buy, but they don’t feel pushed into it. But if you ignore the customer’s need for that sense of control, you end up with a completely different dynamic.

I hope you’ll forgive another post that mentions the excellent Seth Godin. Last week he asked: “Who decided to add the noise?”

Ewan Hoyle asked a similar question:

One of the perks of being freelance is that you get to work for lots of different organisations, which means you can spot interesting patterns. You get to see if a type of behaviour is unique to one workplace or common across many organisations.

Over the past few weeks I have been very cross about Post Office home and contents insurance, writing three blog posts about it for The Restless Consumer.

When someone you love celebrates a significant birthday, do you send flowers – or pay for them to experience something unforgettable? The idea of giving “experiences” as gifts went mainstream with Red Letter Days in the early 1990s, but until now there’s been a huge gap in the market.

If you have a disability, it’s not easy finding an activity provider that meets your needs. It’s not impossible, but the extra work involved - contacting operators, explaining your disability and asking questions – is offputting.

Last Wednesday I bagged myself a Pitch slot at Oxford Geek Night 27, which gave me a minute’s worth of attention from the 150 or so assembled geeks. That minute wasn’t enough to get my point across, even given how fast I talk; hence this blog post.