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# Crackdowns, drugs, feminism and holding bankers to task: July 30th to August 5th on openDemocracy
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/crackdowns-drugs-feminism-and-holding-bankers-to-task-july-30th-to-august-5th-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2012-08-05T15:08:21.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:09:35.000Z
- Description: In the world of high finance, central banks are being taken to task. In a milestone interview, Andy Haldane, Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, tells William Davies, thatthe Bank should have understood what was going on – but didn’t.
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:27, #appended-excerpt

In Greece, the crisis has informed another type of analysis, as Sappho Xenakis and Leonidas K. Cheliotis show in their [paper](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/bcf6fed97d&ref=opendemocracy.net) on**crime since the crash.** 

As Europe creaks, it’s still pretty free and safe. Not so in many other corners of the world, as we’re reminded in [an important piece on the crackdown in the United Arab Emirates](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/5b757687bc&ref=opendemocracy.net). **A society held in check by welfare, identity and foreign mercenaries** is hearing rising calls for reform, and the response challenges the carefully honed image of a benevolent state. In Columbia, the indigenous people keep saying [enough is enough](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/c771404296&ref=opendemocracy.net), unwilling to play hosts to a battle they never wanted part of, and an analysis of the [communist insurgency in the Philippines](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/921c85d85f&ref=opendemocracy.net) proves controversial. 

At oDRussia, we can read Marina Akhmedova’s [harrowing tale of abusers of the drug crocodile](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/03758c0c91&ref=opendemocracy.net), an article that got a **harsh response from uninformed officials**, and Maxim Trudolyubov gives his take on [Putin’s thinking on Syria](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/a5bf416eac&ref=opendemocracy.net). 

Kaushik Barua argues that it is time to [‘fix the Indian male’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/a9797af084&ref=opendemocracy.net), who**worships women as goddesses, yet doesn’t respect their rights**. The new Egyptian first lady, meanwhile, is setting an unprecedented example with her choice to cover her head and upper body with a *khimar*; are Egyptian women stuck [between the bikini and the burqaa’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/9570f8f610&ref=opendemocracy.net)? 

Turning to the west, after Anne-Marie Slaughter’s [*Atlantic* ](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/48de65b647&ref=opendemocracy.net)[article](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/48de65b647&ref=opendemocracy.net) declared that women still can’t combine a top-flight career with childcare, Ruth Rosen asks in her impassioned response: [Who said, exactly, that “We could have it all”?](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/f75f2a6e06&ref=opendemocracy.net) 

OurBeeb continues to debate the future of British broadcasting, and is able to share this week [data from one of Britain’s leading media analysts](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/1d30c7e304&ref=opendemocracy.net). **It finds the BBC at a digital crossroads, but in good health considering the odds.** 

**The corporation noticed openDemocracy too:** OurBeeb’s dissection of Radio 4 found its way onto [Thinking Allowed](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/a812841e99&ref=opendemocracy.net), and Rahila Gupta appeared on [The World Tonight](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/9e949f8877&ref=opendemocracy.net) following her discussion of the [‘great unmentionable’ in disability politics](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/603f4c83b2&ref=opendemocracy.net). 

Our Editor-in-Chief, Magnus Nome, continues his [weekly notes](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/bb16ed6d7c&ref=opendemocracy.net). A scientist’s recent findings **ought to kill the ‘climate change controversy’**. But that’s getting it wrong: [there is no controversy to kill, and it still refuses to die.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/c0fc703586&ref=opendemocracy.net)

**Elsewhere on the web:** 

Der Spiegel exposes a tragedy fuelled by desperation: [the trade in human organs](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/06027eed21&ref=opendemocracy.net). 

Anne-Marie Slaughter: [the follow-up](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/539daa02a4&ref=opendemocracy.net) to the explosive cover story. 

[I was too optimistic on climate change](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/05689c4b93/tid=sm%5Fbtn%5Freddit&ref=opendemocracy.net) writes NASA scientist James Hansen, as the [US Senate has it’s first hearing on the issue in 3 years](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/44d510fdcb&ref=opendemocracy.net).

**openDemocracy’s week in 400 words is emailed to Members and Friends to help pay for our great content. Please forward this to any contact you think might be interested and want to join; they should see** [**here**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/c4008aecb5/openDemocracy/d4022f1a75/TEST/e64101092e&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email** [**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**.**

In the world of high finance, central banks are being taken to task. In a [milestone interview](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/22770352aa/7262321cfa/da5fa2f6d0&ref=opendemocracy.net), Andy Haldane,Executive Director of Financial Stability at the Bank of England, tells William Davies, that**the Bank should have understood what was going on – but didn’t.**