Britain - a house divided?

What does the data actually tell us about anti-Islamic violence post-Woolwich, and how do Briton's views of Islam and Muslims compare with the rest of Europe?

Forget long term strategy, the BBC needs to fix the 'now'

In the second of her 'On broadcasting' column, Lis Howell argues that the BBC urgently needs to put its house in order before turning to the big political issues of 2017. The licence fee and new technology aren’t necessarily the big issues - the real crisis is about management and the alienation of young people and young talent.

Secret Courts: 8 nightmare scenarios now possible in Britain

Imagine suing the government for damages for torture and kidnap, and losing your case, without ever knowing the reason why. A former lawyer who resigned from the Lib Dem party over "secret courts" describes the chilling scenarios made possible by the recently passed Justice and Security Act.

The case for one-sided nuclear disarmament

Fear of the ‘unilateralist’ label obscures the fact that there is now an overwhelming case to be made that the complete renunciation of nuclear weapons is in the British national interest. 

An unholy alliance

Private companies and intelligence services have entered an unholy alliance: The former collect vast amounts of private data, the latter scoop it up without much oversight.

In the thick of it - a review of '5 days in May: the Coalition and beyond'

Andrew Adonis’s insider account of the Lab-Lib coalition talks provides a vivid and vital, and often surprising, insight into the crucial politics of the day – and is also particularly relevant to the prospects for both parties after the 2015 general election.

The scale of debt in the western world now threatens a serious collapse

There can likely be no repeat of the 2008 bailouts, sovereign states do not have the capacity. But the accumulating debt is now so large, the point of no return may have been breached. Euro collapse could trigger far wider meltdowns.

The UK's proposed royal charter on press freedom undermines parliament

Royal Charters are an inappropriate means of regulating the press, a monarchical hangover that debases the role of parliament and reaffirms the view that it is the monarch, not the British people, that should be the ultimate check on parliament.

Husby and territorial stigma in Sweden

This statement appeared at the beginning of June in the Swedish broadsheet SVD, calling for a public investigation into the recent uprisings in Swedish suburbs.

The Severn Trent takeover - corporate profiteering and tax avoidance on Britain's water supply

Severn Trent is the latest water company to be targeted for takeover by a motley group of investment funds. An analysis of their past deals reveals huge profits, meagre tax bills and a seemingly casual approach to ethical concerns. Once again public assets are turned into wealth for the few.

The Woolwich attack in Britain demonstrated an evolving and more rational terror

The Woolwich attack can be seen as a more scrupulous, even moral, development within terror tactics. It tells us nothing about the "Muslim community", and reveals the success of the security forces rather than the failure.

Post-growth: a green republican economy

We live in societies with economies nested within them, nested in turn in the non-human world. A green republican conception of political economy recognises this reality, and challenges the priority given to growth.

3 reasons why Britain's Michael Gove doesn't understand creativity

The education secretary's reforms fly in the face of all that we know about creativity and how best to nurture it. If we want our children to prosper in the world yet to come his plans must be opposed.

The bedroom tax - making Rachmanism legal in the UK

The bedroom tax is not only socially destructive but, intentionally or otherwise, long term it is likely to have the effect of transferring large amounts of housing stock from taxpayers to banks.

MI5 Woolwich failure due to geopolitical alliance with Islamist extremists

The strange British reluctance to prosecute banned group Al Muhajiroun activists despite their support for al-Qaeda terrorism seems inexplicable. But is it?

The time is now for wealth taxes in Britain

Taxing wealth is an underexplored option in the UK, given the scale of wealth inequality. A new project confronts this head on, with proposals for radical reform.

Belonging and entitlement - Britain's 'ethnic majority' and the rise of UKIP

Real or imagined, there is a widespread grievance in Britain's ethnic majority that they no longer come first. Does belonging justify increased entitlement, or is this privilege rightly being swept away?

Reclaiming life in the precarious city

Despite the recent crackdown on squatting in the UK and Europe, across the Global North we are now witnessing the slow emergence of an alternative politics of housing that seeks to challenge the pieties of neoliberal restructuring, and re-think ways of inhabiting cities.

Ireland and Brexit: differing paths for the Isles

How would an exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union shape the future relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the UK?

The far right in Greece and the theory of the two extremes

The far right in Greece has become completely independent from the right, and is turning into a loose canon against New Democracy rather than SYRIZA or the other parties of the centre-left.

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.

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