One passage that seems to be missing from many Christians’ Bibles is chapter 2 of Paul’s letter to the Romans, which begins: “There is no excuse for you to condemn others, because when you condemn others you are condemning yourself because you do the same things.” Paul speaks very strongly against judgmentalism; so why is it that Christians are so often perceived as self-righteous finger pointers, more known for what they stand against than for what they stand for?

There are plenty of passages in the Bible which give guidance about how a follower of Jesus should live; however these are guidance for the believer, and not ammunition for the believer to hurl against others. Paul comes down very strongly against hypocrisy. No-one is perfect; everyone fails at least some of the time. Thus no-one can accuse others of wrong-doing without pointing the finger back at himself or herself.

Perfection in all matters of behaviour is possible, as Jesus demonstrated, but it is a standard which no-one else has managed to reach. So when you criticise someone else for being bad or doing wrong things, you are criticising yourself. It does not matter how hard you have tried or how you compare yourself to other people, you are still guilty yourself, so you have no right to consider yourself superior to anyone.

Some teachers are clearly more effective than others, but academic ability is not a clear indicator of the difference. Even good teachers often struggle to explain how their techniques differ from those of less able teachers. What are the factors that enable a teacher to make a significant impact on students? Sandra J Balli, an associate professor of education, sets out to answer that question in her book Making a Difference in the Classroom: Strategies that Connect with Students.

To help her in writing the book, the author asked her teaching students to write essays reflecting on the characteristics of the best teachers they had encountered. Each of the chapters of the book contains brief excerpts from those essays, bound together by the author’s observations and reflections from her own experience. The book is divided into three parts: building relationships, building a learning community, and building authenticity.

At first it took me some time to adapt to the book’s style. There are no empirical studies of the relative effectiveness of different teaching techniques; instead, the content is presented by way of anecdotes and reflections. However, once I became accustomed to the style, I found the content useful and persuasive. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to become a more effective teacher.

This is the fourth in a series of posts discussing themes from The Aid Trap by Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan. In Chapter 2, the authors assert that prosperity began to grow in Holland after the country achieved independence from Spain in 1581. The feudal system (which was more about preserving the power of the few than creating prosperity for all) was replaced by a business-friendly system of governance.

The fertile Dutch soil and investment in ploughs and horses allowed farmers to grow surplus food, freeing up many people to do other activities such as creating woollen cloth. Holland’s strategic location at the mouth of the Rhine meant that transport to other locations in Europe was rapid and inexpensive, and Dutch ships traded all over the world. Many different types of goods were produced and traded, and there were many different opportunities for employment.

The authors seem to overstate their case, however, when they say that everyone rose out of poverty. It is most probably true that the average citizen of Holland was wealthier than the average citizen of other European countries, and Holland may have been the wealthiest country in the world. However, in real terms the average citizen of Holland in the mid-17th Century was still desperately poor by modern standards.

As a result of the global financial crisis, the world’s richer countries face a troubled future, whereas the poorer countries face a brighter future, according to The Age’s economics editor, Tim Colebatch. The International Monetary fund has predicted that, in the four-year period to 2011, the European Union’s economy will have shrunk by 0.2%, and Japan’s will have shrunk by 2.8%, while the US will grow by just 2.8% and Australia by just 9.1%. This compares with China’s projected growth of 44% and India’s 32%.

Tim Colebatch then refers to a paper released by the Bank of International Settlements, which predicts many years of troubled times ahead for rich countries, in view of high levels of government debt, shrinking workforces, and increasing pension and aged care costs. The paper predicts continuing high levels of unemployment and government debt, because it would take an enormous effort to produce budget surpluses sufficient to reverse the current situation.

Perhaps the day when the average wealth of Chinese citizens matches that of American citizens is approaching faster than previously imagined. The momentum of China’s economy currently appears unstoppable. But where does Africa fit in this picture? Some African economies are showing small signs of growth, but there is presently very little cause for hope that Africa will be a major economic player in the near future.

The staple diet of most Kenyans – and particularly those who are poor – is maize meal, and last year the country consumed around 3.2 million tonnes of maize, while Kenyan farmers produced only 2.1 million tonnes. It is expected that in the period to June this year Uganda will have a maize surplus of 400,000 tonnes and Rwanda will have a surplus of 200,000 tonnes, but Kenya will have a shortfall of 700,000 tonnes and Tanzania a shortage of 450,000 tonnes.

Population in Kenya has been increasing, and food production has not been keeping pace. Modern agricultural techniques which would significantly improve productivity are being ignored in favour of small-scale traditional farming methods. Droughts are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change, but little or nothing is being done to prepare for them, and such agricultural policies as exist have been poorly implemented.

Bad government is partly to blame for the food shortage. As a result of Kenya’s post election violence in 2008, many farmers were chased off their fields. The Kenyan government’s plan for providing subsidised maize to supplement the shortfall turned into a free-for-all looting exercise by politicians and public service officers, and the prices which the poor had to pay for their food increased even more.

The last invasion of Britain began on this day 213 years ago. 1,400 French Revolutionary Army troops from the Black Legion, under the command of the American Colonel William Tate, landed near Fishguard on the west coast of Wales. They seized a number of farmhouses and started moving inland, securing good vantage points and setting ambushes for an anticipated battle with the British defensive forces.

Thomas Knox was the commander of the Fishguard & Newport Volunteer Infantry. On hearing of the invasion, he valued discretion more highly than valour and instructed his men to retreat before they encountered the invaders. Meanwhile the invading forces had discovered a stash of wine from a Portuguese ship which had recently been shipwrecked, and they were soon in no condition to engage in vigorous battle.

Buoyed by Knox’s courageous retreat, Jemima Nicholas, a local lady in her mid forties, grabbed her pitchfork and went out into the fields, capturing 12 French prisoners and locking them inside St Mary’s Church. In the face of such formidable opposition, the French realised that their only hope was to surrender unconditionally on the afternoon of 24 February 1797. The captured French prisoners were sent home in a prisoner exchange the following year.

In a philosophy lecture, when a learned philosopher is pouring scorn on the irrationality of believing in a being that you cannot see, it is hard to admit to being a believer in Jesus. When you are with a group of friends at a party who are behaving in a manner that you are not comfortable with, it is hard to admit being a believer in Jesus. In the workplace, at school, in public … there are many times and places where it is hard to stand up and say you are a Christian.

But Paul, in the first chapter of his letter to the Romans, said, “I am not ashamed of the good news about Christ, because it is the power of God, giving salvation to everyone who believes, the Jew first, and then the Greek.” He demonstrated by his words, his actions and his whole life that the embarrassment of being publicly ridiculed meant nothing to him; even suffering physical violence meant nothing to him, because he was so sure of the truth of the good news.

My problem is that I want to have all the benefits of following Jesus without any of the costs. I want everybody to like me. I do not want to be mocked, or to be unpopular. I do not want people to think or say that I am an idiot. I do not want to stand up for what is right when the in-crowd is furiously chasing after what is wrong. I do not want to risk my security, my happiness or my money. But if I do not do these things, how can I be said to be trusting my life to Jesus?

For more than 20 years now, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been waging war against innocent civilians in Northern Uganda and surrounding countries, pillaging, torturing, dismembering and murdering adults, and kidnapping children to brutalise, brainwash and use as recruits. Journalist Matthew Green set out to find and interview the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony, and The Wizard of the Nile: The Hunt for Africa’s Most Wanted tells the story of his journey.

Kony claims to be representing the Acholi people of Northern Uganda in a war to overthrow President Museveni’s government and install a government “based on the Ten Commandments”. He does not seem to realise that his actions are diametrically opposed to every one of the Ten Commandments: 1. No other God and 2. No idols – Kony is a practising spirit medium; 3. Misusing God’s name – Kony frequently purports to speak for God; 4. Sabbath Day – The LRA conducts raids on Sundays; 5. Honour parents – the LRA kidnaps children then forces them to kill their families; 6. No murder – Kony does plenty of that; 7. No adultery – Kony has 80 wives; 8. No stealing – the LRA constantly steals; 9. No lying – Kony engages in consistent deception; 10. No coveting – Kony is always coveting the possessions and positions of others.

The story of the LRA has not been well documented, and Green’s book helps to remedy that. The writing is engaging, and the subject matter very interesting. However, the author’s quest to meet Joseph Kony is ultimately more of a celebrity chase than a search to find the answer to any serious question. If and when Kony’s war is finally ended, the trauma that he has caused will last for decades.

This is the third in a series of posts discussing themes from The Aid Trap by Glenn Hubbard and William Duggan. Chapter 2 attempts to provide a history of prosperity, starting with the earliest documented loans in Mesopotamia around 2,500BC. The ancient business sector was kept small because the amount of surplus agricultural produce was low and the extent of trade was small. Other factors included disease and war.

Prosperity spread to more people in the Roman Empire because of its relative political stability and peacefulness. According to the authors, the conditions were relatively business-friendly because most of the World Bank’s ten elements of Doing Business were present. They say that slavery was a negative factor, but they seem to say this on moral grounds, rather than on purely economic rationalist grounds.

The chapter goes on to discuss the fall of the Roman Empire, Charlemagne and the role of the Catholic Church during the middle ages, the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, the conditions in Egypt, China and India, and the new commercial system, based on the old Roman one, which arose in Venice. According to the authors, there was a high degree of correlation all along the road between pro-business governmental regulation and prosperity.

Last week, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, an architect at Microsoft Live Labs, gave a demonstration to the TED2010 conference of some new augmented-reality mapping technology. Google Maps might have aerial photography views and street views, but Microsoft’s new Photosynth technology enables static photos and videos to be assembled into a three-dimensional space, with smooth zooming and digital rendering capabilities.

Using Bing Maps, he demonstrated how Microsoft’s offering provides North, South, East and West views of city buildings, each view taken from a 45-degree elevation, so that you can see the facades of the buildings in a three-dimensional environment, and not just the two-dimensional rooftops. In locations for which imagery has been taken from the ground, it is possible to fly down to the ground and view a three-dimensional panoramic streetscape.

Flicker geo-registered imagery can be connected to Bing Maps imagery using Photosynth-like processes. This allows crowd-sourced images to be integrated into the maps, and it allows visualisation of historical changes to the appearance of a location. Backpack cameras allow for imaging inside public buildings, live video feeds can be incorporated into the three-dimensional views, and a view of the current location of the stars and planets can be obtained by looking into the sky.