Watching Little Dorrit on the BBC iPlayer on the last shopping weekend before Christmas and the theme of greedy bankers abusing our trust seems spookily relevant.

Surely Dickens could not have predicted the credit crunch 150 years ago. Or could he?

The story maps the rise and fall of a financier named Mr Murdle (read Mr Madoff), a “vampire on the collective delusion” that you can get rich quick by following the man of the moment rather. Murdle eventually kills himself when the Ponzi scheme he is running comes crashing down along with the fortunes of all who trusted him.

Not everyone sees the similarities between 2008 and 1858: Another prolific writer and observer of modern life, Will Self, was writing in the London Evening Standard last week as if we are in the middle of an unprecedented collapse in economic and social conditions, brought about chiefly by the Internet and mobile communications.

“this society needs more personalised contact and an end to the anonymity of the electronic crowd” he wrote, bemoaning the way we seem to have lost each other behind a wall of Bebos, Facebooks and LinkedIns.

As I sit on public transport reading his article I look around me it would appear he is correct: I see people actively ignoring each other, avoiding eye contact for fear of being assaulted or worse, engaged in a conversation. Self’s article brings to my mind William Wordsworth, who in 1795, long before Dickens even, described a rapidly industrialised London where “society has parted man from man, neglectful of the universal heart.”

After the printing press was invented in the 1400’s, we have been in state of social and economic flux and anyone sensitive enough to notice it has shared their views with anyone who will listen to or read what they have to say. Meanwhile banks have failed, interest rates have gone up and down and the rich have always insulated themselves against the hardships of the lower classes.

The real difference between now and then will always be the rate at which we see change happening around us and our ability to react to the growing volume of information at our fingertips. For over a century newspapers set the social and economic agenda on a daily basis, then radio, then television, then internet, then mobile and now all five converged in a mighty maelstrom of media, commerce and content.

You can’t blame binary code and the “electronic crowd” for a breakdown in social communication. Any more than you can blame digital communications for climate-change.

The challenge today is to harness the power of the internet and mobile to do what we have always done but to do it better and smarter. However many “friends” you have in cyberspace, you can only manage and maintain a certain number of fulfilling human relationships at any one time in the real world.

The same is true of the way we shop or interact with brands. There are only so many hours in the day and so many pounds in our pocket. The Internet allows us to find and buy what we want quickly and intelligently, without wasting time or money, so less is actually more and everyone can finally afford to be discerning.

As information flows more freely we learn more about the world around us, particularly about the effect our consumption has on the environment. The true cost of disconnecting our actions to consequences can be seen in global warming. Coolaworld is just one way for us to start reconnecting ourselves with each other and the planet by shopping and recycling in a truly rewarding way.

So let’s just hope Dickens was equally prophetic with the happy ending to Little Dorrit, whereby love and industry wins over vanity and speculation and everyone gets rich in the process.

Have a Coola Christmas and an even Coola New Year

RK Dec 08

By the time you read this, two things will have happened: The free world will have a new leader and Coolaworld will have a new look and a new sister site called Coolafone.

Although thousands of miles apart the two events have much in common, both are the result of a long, dedicated campaign and both have the potential to change the world. Okay, so a re-design and a mobile phone trade-in site, however ground-breaking, may not be as immediately momentous as the US presidential election, but the power we have as consumers and communicators can surely have a comparable impact when we act together.

Coolafone is a new platform for people to recycle together and reward themselves or the planet. Millions of people own mobile phones and therefore millions of pounds can be directed into the economy or the environment.

Change has been the mantra of the favourite candidate in America and change, for the better, is what Coolafone represents: A change in our attitude to waste and consumption and a realisation that we can be rewarded for doing good. Whatever the outcome of the election across the Atlantic one thing is certain – Coolaworld has changed and Coolafone is open for business.