OurKingdom

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

- Bertrand Russell

What stops the UK protecting victims of trafficking?

David Rhys Jones 7 May 2013

How we’ve managed to make protecting trafficking victims so complicated.

Kickstarting taxation

Josh Booth 3 May 2013

The Starbucks and Googles of this world will always find tax loopholes. We need to link taxation once again to civic virtue and demonstratable social impact. We'll get them on the spirit of the law, not the letter.

From collective myth to counterpublics: negotiating national identity in an age of global flows

Christian Karner 3 May 2013

Monolithic accounts of national identity need to make way for a form of analysis capable of embracing the ambiguity and contradictions through which all ideas of community are created. In a context of new global patterns of immigration this task is central to the economic and political struggles of the disenfranchised.

An evening with the Iron Lady

David Elstein 3 May 2013

David Elstein vividly recalls Thatcher coming to the studio for a 'live', hour long interview, followed by two whiskies and a cheery rebuke that no one really cares about monetarism.

May Day for Emergent Service Workers: a protest against ourselves

Niki Seth-Smith 2 May 2013

This May Day, Space Hijackers set up camp outside Google's London HQ. Part-pagan, part-protest against the struggles of digital labour, this was a "political party - but the good kind".

Republicanism and tax justice

David Owen 2 May 2013

Republicans can offer the principles needed to work towards a tax system built for the global common good.

Britain may squander human rights for the sake of deporting Abu Qatada

Frances Webber 1 May 2013

Cameron threatens to 'temporarily withdraw' from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to expedite a radical cleric's deportation. The worst kind of populist politics drives Britain towards international outlawry.

On its own terms: political sentiment in Scottish writing

Stewart Sanderson 1 May 2013

The controversy over Alasdair Gray’s contribution to a recent collection of essays on Scottish independence points to the often fraught and false relationship between the arts and politics. This is the fourth piece in the ‘Restating Scotland’ debate series.

The crisis of European centre-left parties: on Novara Radio

Aaron Peters and James Butler 1 May 2013

The Novara radio show discusses the crisis of nominally left social democratic parties in Europe since 2008. For more Novara radio episodes, go to the Novara Media website.

The only socialism we will ever know?

Dan Hancox 1 May 2013

Looking for signs of life and the difference that was made, surely that dreary grey oblong could not have been the spiritual home of the 99%? But it was and it did.

A new dawn for the Unions? Frances O’Grady and economic democracy

Niki Seth-Smith 30 April 2013

The TUC’s new General Secretary seems to represent real change in the 'pale, male, stale' world of British unions. But can she shake them up in policy terms, and draw in the energy of a disparate anti-austerity movement?

UK surveillance law: a warning, and a call for a different future

Open Rights Group 30 April 2013

The British are being tracked, more than we have ever been. A new report sets out what this means for the everyday citizen, and calls for more targeted, more accountable surveillance laws.

Is there any austerity in the UK?

Nick Pearce 30 April 2013

The Coalition is not cutting the deficit, while many on the right argue that spending is rising. So what's the real picture? The director of centre-left think tank IPPR gives his analysis on whether there is really austerity in Britain.

The link between immigration policy, labour markets and exploitation in the UK

Caroline Robinson and Claire Falconer 30 April 2013

The UK government’s commitment to tackling trafficking for labour exploitation is being undermined by its immigration and labour market policies.

Did Earl Howe get any part of procurement law right?

David Lock 29 April 2013

Speaking to the Lords in the final debate on the Coalition's NHS privatisation regulations, Earl Howe made a number of claims about the legislation which has been challenged by campaigners, lawyers, charities and even the Lords' own scrutiny committee. David Lock QC lists ten errors.

Restating Scotland

Land, apples, and political engagement in Scotland
Max J Muir

Free Trade, 'Trade Creep' and the Risks to our Public Health
Meri Koivusalo

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Thatcher's legacy

G4S asylum-housing fiasco descends into farce
John Grayson

The Golden Country: the organic myth of the British constitution
Michael Gardiner

"Currency war" rhetoric obscures the real need for realignment
John Mills

Europe’s seven most endangered species of monuments and sites
Costa Carras

openDemocracy Ltd, The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tel: +44 (0) 207 193 0676

openDemocracy

Welcome to openDemocracy! We are a digital commons, publishing high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. More...

Italian triple whammy

Best of the rest:

Arab Awakening | Can Europe Make it? | Drug and Criminal Justice Policy Forum | OurBeeb

OurKingdom

About us
OurKingdom works to investigate and illuminate the crisis of democracy in Britain and analyse how its failings can be redressed.

We encourage original debate untrammelled by party political loyalties.

We ask how we as citizens can secure liberty, human rights, self-government and real democracy. ...more on OurKingdom

Pick of the debates: Democratic Wealth: building a citizens' economy, edited by Stuart White, uses republican theory to explore ideas around how to democratise the economy. Co-hosted with Politics in Spires, a blog sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

oD Russia

50.50

Recent articles on 50.50

50.50 Dialogues

About 50.50
50.50 is openDemocracy's section dedicated to exploring issues of gender equality and social justice at the global level.

We are committed to promoting human rights and inclusive democracy through dialogue and debate. But a global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. With this in mind, 50.50 publishes women's analysis, insight and views on current affairs.

Can Europe Make It?

Spread the word

Spread the word is a brand new section of openDemocracy's not-for-profit web platform.

This space is for other not-for-profit organisations of all kinds to publicise your activities and spread the exchange of ideas.

You will be able to link to all your publications, and events anywhere in the world. You will have your own openDemocracy page and all new announcements will be ticker-taped to our front page.

This organisation subscription is available for a modest annual fee, dependent on the size of your organisation.

Please contact Jonathan Bowles at supporters@opendemocracy.net if you are interested in joining.

If you're interested in developing editorial projects on openDemocracy, please see our Editorial partnerships page

We are grateful to the following organisations for their support in developing this initiative:

Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

openSecurity

openEconomy

Arab Awakening

In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world.

"As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS

Debates

Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East

OurNHS

AddThis

What stops the UK protecting victims of trafficking?

Kickstarting taxation

From collective myth to counterpublics: negotiating national identity in an age of global flows

An evening with the Iron Lady

May Day for Emergent Service Workers: a protest against ourselves

Republicanism and tax justice

Britain may squander human rights for the sake of deporting Abu Qatada

On its own terms: political sentiment in Scottish writing

The crisis of European centre-left parties: on Novara Radio

The only socialism we will ever know?

A new dawn for the Unions? Frances O’Grady and economic democracy

UK surveillance law: a warning, and a call for a different future

Is there any austerity in the UK?

The link between immigration policy, labour markets and exploitation in the UK

Did Earl Howe get any part of procurement law right?

Restating Scotland

OurNHS

Democratic Wealth

Thatcher's legacy

G4S: securing whose world?

Re-birth of the nation?

Devalue or Else!

Can Europe Make It?

OurKingdom comments

OurKingdom is reading

Advertising notice

openDemocracy

OurKingdom

oD Russia

50.50

Can Europe Make It?

Spread the word

openSecurity

openEconomy

Arab Awakening

OurNHS