OurKingdom

“Only war makes it possible to mobilize all of today’s technical resources while maintaining the property system.”

- Walter Benjamin, 1936

How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy, and how to turn it back

Guy Aitchison 22 April 2013

As capitalist corporations have come to dominate the internet, is it possible to fulfil the genuine democratic potential of this technology within the context of the current economic crisis? A review of Robert McChesney’s new book Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy, beyond the stale debate between 'celebrants' and 'sceptics'.

Transparency International raises serious concerns about corruption in the UK

Stuart Weir 22 April 2013

The creep of the market into almost all areas of public life has brought with it a steady and damaging growth in corruption. Both the media and the political class insist the UK is largely free of corruption, a claim that no longer stands up.

Thatcher's funeral - the crowd, the media and reality

Jeremy Fox 19 April 2013

Despite shameless media fawning the streets were in fact eerily quiet; the biggest crowd out was the police. But signs of her legacy are still pervasive.

Scottish independence: not worth the trouble

John Lloyd 19 April 2013

Chart the actual probable outcomes of independence, and there is little to recommend it to the Scots, if slightly more to the English. Yet the results would be devastating.

Personal care budgets could further fragment the NHS

Colin Leys 19 April 2013

Aside from whether patients welcome the cash payments there are wider issues that need addressing, namely whether the scheme strips cash from the NHS and so weakens the service for others; will it be a subsidy for private care; and who steps in if the money is spent before the year is up?

The British Dream: a review, and the author's response

Sunder Katwala and David Goodhart 18 April 2013

A new book on immigration and inclusion by the former Prospect Editor lays out a vision of a shared future Britain. Sunder Katwala, director of think-tank British Future, reviews the book, and the author David Goodhart responds.

BMA calls for withdrawal of Coalition's privatisation regulations

OurNHS 18 April 2013

Controversial competition regulations should be withdrawn and replaced, says BMA ahead of crucial House of Lords debate

Be it ever so humble!

Stuart Weir 18 April 2013

Forget “Home, Sweet Home”. The British government’s bedroom tax humbles families in social housing, depriving them of the dignity to call their home their own, forcing many of them to move and driving some into homelessness.

Hello James Harding, the new head of BBC News

Lis Howell 18 April 2013

News is the most vulnerable area for the BBC. Some advice to James Harding as he starts his job: decentralise, but don’t encourage silos. Here’s how. The first of the 'Lis Howell on Broadcasting' columns.

The tone at the top: on the new BBC

David Elstein 18 April 2013

How is the new Director General of the BBC faring? Can he guide the institution out of crisis? A good first bold step would be to put the 'single voice' on trial, and go instead for plurality and flexibility.

Ties of blood: how Thatcher altered 'British'

Radhika Natarajan 17 April 2013

By discarding the social and cultural ties of the Empire, Margaret Thatcher did away with old ideas of Britishness based on allegiance, desire, history and character. Blood was what mattered. As today's questionably 'multicultural' Britain marks her death, a look back on this journey.

We remember: an obituary

David W. Kasper / @PereLebrun 17 April 2013

In Britain and the world, this is a day of remembrance - in grief or in anger. But what should we remember - and who?

Why I left the Civil Service: Thatcher, trust and democracy

Judith Marquand 17 April 2013

A former economic civil servant tells her story of working under Thatcher. The change of culture in Whitehall and the loss of trust, she says, must now be undone.

A tableau for Thatcher

Tjebbe van Tijen 17 April 2013

Nothing lasts... (visual montage)

Never again? Jeremy Hunt’s response to the Francis Report is inadequate

Roger Kline 17 April 2013

The Coalition's response to the Mid-Staffs enquiry is hampered by its own ideological limitations and its destructive NHS privatisation.

Restating Scotland

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

Privatised NHS call centres are causing an A&E crisis
Suresh Chauhan

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

Thatcher's legacy

Outsourcer Nick Buckles retires at 52, a multimillionaire
Clare Sambrook

Not everyone can be a world citizen
Bridget Byrne

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

Desegregating Roma and Croat schoolchildren: what has been done?
Tom Bass

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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.

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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.

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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

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How capitalism is turning the internet against democracy, and how to turn it back

Transparency International raises serious concerns about corruption in the UK

Thatcher's funeral - the crowd, the media and reality

Scottish independence: not worth the trouble

Personal care budgets could further fragment the NHS

The British Dream: a review, and the author's response

BMA calls for withdrawal of Coalition's privatisation regulations

Be it ever so humble!

Hello James Harding, the new head of BBC News

The tone at the top: on the new BBC

Ties of blood: how Thatcher altered 'British'

We remember: an obituary

Why I left the Civil Service: Thatcher, trust and democracy

A tableau for Thatcher

Never again? Jeremy Hunt’s response to the Francis Report is inadequate

Restating Scotland

OurNHS

Democratic Wealth

Thatcher's legacy

G4S: securing whose world?

Re-birth of the nation?

Devalue or Else!

Can Europe Make It?

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Can Europe Make It?

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Arab Awakening

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