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About Niki Seth-Smith

Niki Seth-Smith is a freelance journalist and Co-Editor of OurKingdom.

Articles by Niki Seth-Smith

Take a tour of Lansley's private health care supporters

Niki Seth-Smith 27 January 2011
Who is behind the government's proposals to radically reform the NHS? Well, take a look at those that stand to benefit. That's exactly what Spinwatch has done, an independent organisation that monitors the impact of spin and public relations on society.

Wake up NetrootsUK! Demand access to the web as a human right

Niki Seth-Smith 24 January 2011
As the web offers the possibility of direct, deliberative democracy, the UK activists involved in internet organising need to demand universal access to the web as a fundamental right.

Weekend of debate shows renewed interest in Raymond Williams

Niki Seth-Smith 17 January 2011
Raymond Williams is bouncing back – and to prove it, there has been special interest in the twenty-third annual residential weekend of the Raymond Williams Foundation.

Online activism: OurKingdom joins the debate

Niki Seth-Smith 7 January 2011
Tomorrow, grassroots activists will meet in central London for Netroots UK, an event aimed at "inspiring progressive activists working on the web". OurKingdom is taking advantage of the event to join in the debate around the impact of the internet on British grassroots politics and the future of online activism.

Consultation on the cabinet manual: have your say on a document being described as the first step to a British written constitution

Niki Seth-Smith 5 January 2011
Views are being sought by January 10th on a document being described by some as the first step towards a British codified constitution.

Best of OurKingdom 2010

Niki Seth-Smith 24 December 2010
A very brief look back across OK's 2010

The Con-Dem Christmas Carol

Niki Seth-Smith 23 December 2010
The ’12 Cuts of Christmas’, sung by student protesters on the tuition fee demonstration at Parliament Square, summed up this year’s defiantly festive spirit. You can join in the iconoclast carol with the video and lyrics in this post.

'We the people' deserve something better than a high-class villain's charter

Niki Seth-Smith 15 December 2010
Yesterday, the Guardian published Anthony Barnett's damning analysis of a document being hailed as the foundation of a codified constitution.

After weeks of student protests, tomorrow is decision day

Niki Seth-Smith 8 December 2010

After weeks of nation-wide student protests, tomorrow is decision day for Higher Education. A national demonstration expected to attract more than 20,000 students will converge on Parliament tomorrow afternoon, when MPs will be voting on the raising of tuition fees.

It's my United Kingdom: Kate Tempest's Line in the Sand

Niki Seth-Smith 6 December 2010
Video from rapper, poet and playwright Kate Tempest

Civil society rejects invitation to 'build the Big Society'

Niki Seth-Smith 6 December 2010
The government wrote an open letter to civil society in November, inviting them to be part of "building the Big Society". The Directory of Social Change has composed a tongue and cheek but highly pertinent reply.

Is it time for Murdoch's empire to be reined in?: A fascinating debate on News Corp's bid to take over BSkyB

Niki Seth-Smith 2 December 2010
Is this the moment to halt the expansion of Richard Murdoch's media empire in the UK? An OurKingdom post, which presents the media mogul's bid for full ownership of the country's most powerful commercial broadcaster as a threat to our democracy, has sparked an urgent debate between the author, Oliver Huitson, and David Elstein, an influential figure in the British media industry.

The Left and the Big Society VII: Hilary Wainwright of Red Pepper

Niki Seth-Smith 1 December 2010
In this latest interview in our Big Society Challenge series, Hilary Wainwright, co-editor of Red Pepper, contrasts the coalition's Big Society with ideas of self-organisation that took root in the '60s and '70s. She advocates an unofficial "big society" where communities occupy Big Society rhetoric, and make use of the resources handed down to resist the cuts and strengthen local democracy.

“Middle-class kids and mad militants”: the battle against media stereotypes

Niki Seth-Smith 30 November 2010
Protestors and strikers always have two opponents: those they are against and the way the media represents them. Today in London, can different kinds of opposition come together and overcome the media?

How should Ed Miliband respond to the Big Society?

Niki Seth-Smith 18 October 2010
As Ed Miliband shapes his opposition strategy, he will have to respond to the Conservatives' Big Society. In a contribution to OK's debate on the Big Society Challenge, Niki Seth-Smith discusses how Labour's new leader might shape a convincing alternative to Cameron's 'big idea'.

This week's guest editors

openGlobalRights editors

Our guest editors James Ron, Leslie Vinjamuri, Sophie Arie and Archana Pandya introduce this week's theme of:

Emerging powers and human rights.

A Turkish Spring?

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Woolwich - terror or conflict?

Secret Courts: 8 nightmare scenarios now possible in Britain
Jo Shaw

Iran myths

Iranian presidential candidate and chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalill

Myths, falsehoods and misrepresentations about Iran
Peter Oborne and David Morrison

Palestinian borders

Palestine, peoples and borders in the new Middle East map
Ahmad Samih Khalidi

Nobel Women's Initiative

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Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

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The media in Europe

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Mali: the plot thickens

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Remote control war

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oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

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