The best of possible worlds

Having failed to keep up a micro-blog about international development and related issues in the form of twitter (see https://twitter.com/CharlieSatow), perhaps upgrading to a full-sized model will force my hand.

To give the briefest of introductions, I am an undergraduate student from London, currently residing in Madrid. I think that will do for now.

The title is an overused cliche from Candide but was the first thing that came to my mind after 'blog about international development' so please forgive me. Above all it conveys a) a satisfying level of irony and b) the idea that the world is not, in fact, the best of possible worlds. And that, in a nutshell, is why I'm interested in ways to make things better for the world's poor (in the broadest sense of the word) and politics in general.

So please read on; there is likely to be an extra keen flurry of posts in the next few minutes, hours and days. After that, we shall see if I can keep things going...