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Take the Money and Run? Some positions on ethics, business sponsorship and making art
Is any money free from exerting an influence on the artist or art it enables? Is all money equally ‘good’ or ‘bad’, regardless of the source? In this Live Art Development Agency Study Room Guide, Jane Trowell from Platform has selected some key texts that are useful in helping to position yourself ethically with regard…
16 Apr 2013 admin -
Making a Killing: Oil Companies, Tax Avoidance and Subsidies
Oil company mega-profits are being made at the expense of the public purse, as youth centres shut, hospitals struggle and the queues at food banks grow. Companies like BP & Shell receive major government support including direct subsidies and military and diplomatic services, but seem to pay very small amounts of UK tax in comparison…
16 Feb 2013 admin -
Repeated Misadventures: Key questions for Shell on its Alaskan Arctic programme
On 8th January 2013, the U.S. Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, announced a review of the 2012 Alaskan Arctic offshore drilling programme “to review practices and identify challenges as well as lessons learned.” The review to be completed within 60 days will focus on the successive setbacks encountered by Shell during 2012. These include its failure…
14 Jan 2013 anna -
Russian Roulette – the BP and Rosneft deal
On 22nd October BP plc announced it had agreed heads of terms to sell its 50% stake in TNK-BP to Rosneft. BP’s official announcement of the proposed deal refers to Rosneft’s 2011 oil reserve replacement ratio of 127% and dividend of 25% of IFRS net income. However, there are a number of areas of concern…
5 Nov 2012 james -
A Secret Subsidy – Oil companies, the Navy and the response to Piracy
British oil companies are promoting a ‘fight against piracy’ to get a vast hidden military subsidy. In the process they have got an unprecedented amount of influence over UK military policies. Oil companies have talked up the risk from piracy to justify the use of Navy frigates, drones and helicopters to protect corporate oil assets…
26 Oct 2012 admin -
DIRTY WORK: Shell Security Spending in Nigeria and Beyond
Shell spent at least $383 million on security in Nigeria between 2007 and 2009, according to company data leaked to oil watchdog Platform.[1] Shell’s leaked data is analysed in a new Platform briefing, Dirty Work: Shell’s security spending in Nigeria and beyond, which shows that a substantial amount of Shell’s security spending went into the hands…
20 Aug 2012 admin -
London Late – The Big Money Games
London Late: The Big Money Games is a spoof newspaper that critiques and pokes fun at some of the more controversial sponsors of the Olympic Games, including BP, Addidas, Rio Tinto, G4S and Dow Chemicals. The paper has been produced by five organisations – the London Mining Network, the anti-poverty charity War on Want, the…
7 Aug 2012 admin -
The Oil Road – Journeys from the Caspian Sea to the City of London
The new Paperback edition has a brand new Afterword… “★★★★★…The Oil Road opens the lid on the often-shady energy economy, weaving absorbing travel reportage into powerful investigative journalism…. If you want to know why oil matters, read this book.” – Time Out (book of the week) “An elegantly written travel book…will make you think the next…
7 Aug 2012 admin -
Out in the Cold: Investor Risk in Shell’s Arctic Exploration
Royal Dutch Shell’s plans for Arctic exploration are exposing investors to a ‘spectrum of risks’, this new report by Platform, Fairpensions, and Greenpeace warns. Download the report (pdf) and investor briefing or read online below. The report highlights Shell’s failure to address key concerns for investors and environmentalists: • Spill response plans are inadequate –…
21 May 2012 anna