Play the world trade blame game today The suspension of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks is hugely disappointing - a betrayal of the development promise and a missed opportunity to make trade fair. Certain countries are responsible for this collapse because they have insisted on keeping agricultural subsidies that lead to over production and then dumping. This damages the livelihoods of poor farmers. Find out who is preventing a development deal - play the world trade blame game >> posted at 10:06 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Urge Tony Blair to call for a Middle East ceasefire As you will have probably seen the situation in the Middle East continues to deteriorate rapidly. Hundreds have already died and an estimated 500,000 people have had to flee their homes, forced to shelter in buildings with little or no help to meet their basic needs. This situation is unacceptable. Please take urgent action now by urging Tony Blair to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, before he meets President Bush this Friday for talks on the crisis. Email Tony Blair now >> posted at 2:17 PM | Permalink 2 comments

How angry was Lovebox about poverty? INCREDIBLY is the answer. Have a look at these terrifying pictures and, if you're among them, claim your pic to enter the competition to win a year's worth of music. posted at 2:30 PM | Permalink 1 comments

Juggy D and Rishi Rich wear their Fairtrade rakhi bands Super-cool producer Rishi Rich and Bhangra singer Juggy D have given their support to our new fair trade wristband which we've made for this year's Rakhi festival on 9 August. We caught up with them to take some snaps with singer Veronica (see pic above) and find out what they thought about our lovely orange rakhi bands. "I really hope that everyone who celebrates Rakhi buys one of these Oxfam fair trade Rakhis," said Rishi Rich, who's worked with Jay Sean, Craig David and Britney. "They're a great way to show that you care, not only about your own sisters and brothers, but also about your 'sisters and brothers' around the world who live in poverty." A smiling Juggy D reckoned that our fair trade wristbands are "such a good idea. You can use them to celebrate the day as you normally would, but at the same time, you are showing that you care about poverty and want the rules of world trade to be made fairer." During the Rakhi festival, sisters tie a bracelet around their brothers' wrists to celebrate their special bond. Our fair trade Rakhi bands carry the words 'sisters and brothers unite' in Hindi and English - you can buy them online for £2 or from selected Oxfam shops. More about our orange Rakhi bracelets >> posted at 3:55 PM | Permalink 1 comments

Blair responds to campaigner pressure Thought this was worth blogging - Tony Blair has written a response to Oxfam supporters after messages from 86,000 people - inclduing you - were delivered to Downing Street recently. We were calling for Blair to keep the promises he and other world leaders made at the G8 summit in Edinburgh last year. Before he set off for the 2006 summit in St Petersburg, Blair penned a response which is printed in full on the main Oxfam website. In the letter he addresses the key issues of trade, the unregulated arms trade, and aid and debt relief. It's a long-ish letter, but well worth the read. "I am not claiming that we have yet achieved everything agreed at Gleneagles," he says at the end. "I do, however, believe that we have made real progress on delivering on these commitments." Read Blair's letter >> What do you think about Blair's response? Has he done enough? Have your say below. posted at 10:47 AM | Permalink 3 comments

Graduate internship at Oxfam Hey again, just been forwarded this by our mates in Oxfam's Development Education team - they're the people who work in schools and with teachers to help young people think about global issues. They're looking for a Communications Assistant to join the team in September - someone to help with producing and marketing materials for schools (see pic). It's a volunteer internship lasting two months, and looks like a great opportunity for a graduate looking to get some experience of Oxfam, youth work and real hands-on communications stuff. More about the opportunity on the Oxfam website >> posted at 10:01 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Birmingham gig for Oxfam this Thursday One for the brummies out there, thought you might be interested in this! All the details on the flyer above... So if you're free and in the area, get down there. Should be a cracking night. posted at 3:37 PM | Permalink 0 comments

"The G8 were jogging in circles" Just thought you might want to read our frustrated reaction to the recent G8 Summit in St Petersburg, where world leaders missed their crucial opportunity to get rid of poverty around the world. "By downplaying the fight against poverty, the G8 ignored the world's most critical crisis, one that will kill 11 million children by the time they next meet," said Oxfam spokesperson Max Lawson. "Ending poverty is a race against time. This year the G8 were jogging in circles; (German) Chancellor Merkel must make sure they are sprinting for the finish line in Germany next year." Read the G8 blog >> posted at 9:35 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Oxjam: it's "like Live 8 in your garden!" Just read this little snippet in The Guardian about Oxjam, which is our all-new, bigger-than-big, intergalactically-huge music event taking place this October. Oxfam wants everyone who is anyone to put on some kind of music event - however big or small - to raise money to fight poverty. Musical-dudes like Franz Ferdinand (see pic), Kaiser Chiefs and Goldfrapp are all on board so it should be ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE - find out how you can get involved. posted at 4:47 PM | Permalink 3 comments

Internships in the Oxfam Youth Team Want to work for the people behind Generation Why? Want to gain experience of working in a fun, dynamic, youth-oriented team in Oxfam? We've got some great volunteer internships coming up in the Youth Team here - if you're interested in developing your writing and editing skills on Generation Why, or if you want to work help organise campaign projects and events for young people, then go to the main Oxfam website to find out more and apply. posted at 5:10 PM | Permalink 0 comments

How angry are you about poverty? We're taking photos of festival goers at this year's festivals asking them to pull their angriest face - to show how angry we are about global poverty. Submit your own photo and you could win a year's worth of music. Now we want to find out what makes you angry about poverty. Read this thought-provoking article from our Your Say writer Eileen Guo and then add your comments below. posted at 1:54 PM | Permalink 0 comments

UN small arms conference collapses without agreement Latest news: the UN small arms conference in New York has collapsed without agreement. That's despite the majority of governments, including the European Union, and many African and Latin American countries, wanting tougher controls on the international trade in small arms and light weapons. The conference ended last Friday and collapsed after a small number of countries, most prominently the US, blocked key issues so consistently that no agreement was possible. Moves to agree global controls on the small arms trade were blocked by Cuba, India, Iran, Israel and Pakistan. "By allowing this meeting to fail, governments have squandered the opportunity to take action that would have saved lives around the world," said Rebecca Peters, Director of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). "It is unacceptable for two weeks of talking to produce no outcome, particularly when 1000 people are still dying at gunpoint every day." But the fight for an arms trade treaty continues. Find out more on the Control Arms blog >> posted at 11:27 AM | Permalink 0 comments

Congratulations to our World Cup chocolate winner! Just wanted to do a quick post to say thanks to everyone who entered our fiendishly difficult spot the ball competition - you can see where the ball really was in the pic above. Over 600 of you entered, and the winner of our big box of Dubble chocolate mini-footballs was Bryony Lawrence from Fleet in Hampshire, whose guess was just 8 pixels away from the exact centre of the ball (we like to be precise about these things). "I'm not even that into football," she said in her e-mail, "but I'm definitely into chocolate!" More about Oxfam at the World Cup >> posted at 8:56 AM | Permalink 1 comments

Live webchat with President Putin We've just received a quick e-mail from those nice Live8 people telling us that Vladimir Putin (president of Russia - see exciting pic) is taking part in a live webchat on the BBC tomorrow (Thursday 6 July) at 2.30 pm. It's our chance to ask him what he intends to do when Russia hosts the G8 Summit this month. All questions that the BBC receives will be voted on, and the most popular questions will be put to him. The Live8 People suggest a few good questions, but you could think up your own too: Last year the G8 promised an extra $50bn in aid. Will your meeting hold them accountable to this promise? The World Trade round is about to collapse without changing rules so they help Africa. Will you do anything about this in St. Petersburg? You've agreed to discuss Africa at your summit. Will you ensure Chancellor Merkel does the same at the German G8 in 2007? More about the live chat on the BBC website >> posted at 10:17 AM | Permalink 0 comments

News splash! David Walliams is swimming the Channel Just in case you didn't know, Little Britain star and all-round super-man David Walliams is swimming the English Channel right now for Sport Relief. He started at 5.30am this morning - only 700 out of the 7,000 people who have attempted the 21 mile swim have completed it. You can follow his progress on Radio 1 and the Sport Relief website. You could even sponsor him to keep him afloat as he dodges seagulls, oil tankers and, err, massive P&O ferries. Whilst you're at it, have a play on his cool website www.goosefat.tv. posted at 11:49 AM | Permalink 2 comments

Forget about the World Cup! If you're feeling anywhere near as glum (and hot!) as us today, you need something to cheer you up and get rid of your World Cup woes. Well, it's a good job you've got Generation Why, that's all we can say. We've got competitions galore to keep you smiling (more than Sven, at least), and you've probably got a better chance of winning one of our prizes than England ever have of winning a penalty shoot out. For starters, you could win the new album from The Feeling, or a pair of tickets to see Damian Marley. You've also got two days left to win a month's worth of chocolate from Dubble in our spot the ball competition... So forget about Rooney and Ronaldo, enter our competitions and then get out and enjoy the sunshine. (With apologies to those who don't support England or care about football!) posted at 3:12 PM | Permalink 1 comments

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