I am delighted that there remains hope about new possible constructs that we can work on in terms of economics, health and sustainability. But in terms of social exclusion we need to recognise the costs that are already associated with the present human construct around development and the truly awful human costs associated with what we are doing.

Today the UK Minister for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, announced the release of £14 million to fund the second phase of the ESRC's investment in Big Data. At a speech at the High Performance Computing and Big Data Conference, Mr Willetts outlined what steps are being taken to strengthen the UK’s competitive advantage in Big Data.

Haiti’s earthquake was one of the world’s deadliest disasters, claiming as many as 316,000 lives. Media images highlighted the exceptional, macabre, and gruesome. These accounts dehumanized Haiti and Haitian people and focused disproportionate attention on the good intentions and generosity of foreigners. International media attention helped raise $5.6 billion in official funds and $2 billion in private donations for the first two years following the earthquake.

A new British Academy publication, "If you could do one thing..." Nine local actions to reduce health inequalities (featured below), collates opinion pieces on health inequalities from leading social scientists. Each of the authors has written an article, drawing on the evidence base for their particular area of expertise, identifying one policy intervention  that they think local authorities could introduce to improve the health of the local population and reduce health inequalities.