> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Public, progress and discontent: October 1st - 7th on openDemocracy - URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/public-progress-and-discontent-october-1st-7th-on-opendemocracy/ - Published: 2012-10-07T11:10:28.000Z - Updated: 2026-04-23T01:15:14.000Z - Description: Public service health journalism is high on the agenda as Oliver Huitson's landmark investigation of the BBC's coverage of the Health and Social Care Bill continues to attract much interest, but small response from the BBC, while our Editor-in-Chief reflects on rationality and the considerable fal - Author: openDemocracy Supporters - Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:27, #appended-excerpt At OurKingdom, **businessman David Potter, who served on the Bank of England** when the financial crash began, [welcomes the enmity of bankers](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/d1133801d1&ref=opendemocracy.net). Sadhavi Chauhan investigates [Russia-Pakistan relations](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/cdcaf1d4de&ref=opendemocracy.net) for oDRussia, Denis MacShane writes [one](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/9c207c535c&ref=opendemocracy.net) of [several](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/331834dda8&ref=opendemocracy.net) [analyses](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/fa77907a34&ref=opendemocracy.net) **as Georgians vote**, and Roman Kabachiy spots some **young hopefuls** in the [Ukrainian elections](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/0e33104fba&ref=opendemocracy.net). Guest editor **Nick Mahony opened his week of debate** on [‘Creating publics’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/cb98da33e7&ref=opendemocracy.net), launching the first of this autumn’s openDemocracy [editorial partnerships](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/4fdcf21f98&ref=opendemocracy.net), with some troublemakers - Ludek Stavinoha on the public haunting contemporary [global trade politics](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/3c37e26950&ref=opendemocracy.net); Britta Ohm on the [Gujarat Pogrom](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/1001a66730&ref=opendemocracy.net) of 2002, and Christoph Haug on the [coercion](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/3a378a39c1&ref=opendemocracy.net) involved in **achieving consensus**. Andrew Byerley and Jonas Bylund argue that [friction is essential](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/ba0c61c27d&ref=opendemocracy.net) to public life, while Helen Graham, finds [human courtesy](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/383ac11729&ref=opendemocracy.net) a far better basis than rights for **reimagining public services**. The World Social Forum [globalizes politics through its media](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/0f066a9685&ref=opendemocracy.net); while a moving study shows [Aboriginal people fighting to participate](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/79600286bd&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Canada’s national polity. Marianne Maeckelberg’s overview on [Occupy and Madrid](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/0b07c6bcc2&ref=opendemocracy.net) discusses **the emerging practices of ‘horizontal’ democracy**, while Liza Griffin defends [‘the commons’](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/c3db0c5e34&ref=opendemocracy.net) from proposals to reform EU common fisheries policy. A week full of [tv](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/af6c5377c4&ref=opendemocracy.net), [film](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/ea2b5805b2&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [film-making](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/584210c088&ref=opendemocracy.net) includes Jo Tyabji’s first [openSecurity video interview](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/e2c4826957&ref=opendemocracy.net) with the economic adviser to the **President of South Sudan**, which joins **three angry pieces** on discord fomented by [Sri Lanka](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/b0ff42d7b5&ref=opendemocracy.net), [Rwanda](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/ab62b3cd33&ref=opendemocracy.net), [Cameroon](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/dc5d7ade53&ref=opendemocracy.net), and a disillusioned former UN expert on [Sudan/Darfur sanctions](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/5afb03819e&ref=opendemocracy.net), while the UN once again [fails the Syrian people](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/c6b7106307&ref=opendemocracy.net). Paul Rogers highlights the [power contest in Central Asia](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/48c9df7e80&ref=opendemocracy.net); Charles Armstrong visits [North Korea](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/fa62d7d003&ref=opendemocracy.net), Celia Szusterman warns us about ambition in [Argentina](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/d094120e61&ref=opendemocracy.net); Leila Zaki Chakravarti looks at how [Egypt’s President Morsi](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/fd0c4ca0fb&ref=opendemocracy.net) is creating his own publics; and Rebecca Johnson considers [today’s nuclear challenges](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/399316adb6&ref=opendemocracy.net). After a week of trouble in [Europe](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/5917221178&ref=opendemocracy.net), most ominously in [Greece](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/56e057b439&ref=opendemocracy.net), there is added poignancy to **Donald Sassoon’s celebration of the life of historian** [Eric Hobsbawm](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/592013ed24&ref=opendemocracy.net), as Yudit Kiss also [looks back](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/38aa8f7af5&ref=opendemocracy.net). We visit the [US elections](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/204e94cb67&ref=opendemocracy.net) with Ruth Rosen, ponder the [probity of Yale University](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/f063de8eda&ref=opendemocracy.net) and close the week in Our Kingdom, with worry about UK [pensions](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/0f018fc8c7&ref=opendemocracy.net), [disinformation](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/e59622d2ab&ref=opendemocracy.net), [secret courts](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/bdaece5105&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [criminalized youth](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/48fcb5a8a7&ref=opendemocracy.net). openDemocracy will continue to be **where the public informs the public**, in good days, and bad. **Don't miss:** - [Obama on modern slavery](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/8e0067b0ea/%5Fr=1&&ref=opendemocracy.net) - [Madrid on the brink](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/155e88a2b3&ref=opendemocracy.net) - [How the mafia is destroying the rainforests](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/1f029f5b0f/DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news&ref=opendemocracy.net) **openDemocracy’s week in 1 minute is emailed to Members, Friends and authors who help pay for and create our great content. Please forward this to any contact you think might be interested and** [**want to join**](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/cb1ba4c513/openDemocracy/d4022f1a75/TEST/e64101092e&ref=opendemocracy.net) **or email us (**[**supporters@opendemocracy.net**](mailto:supporters@opendemocracy.net)**).** **Public service health journalism** is high on the agenda as Oliver Huitson's [landmark investigation](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/ce68564193&ref=opendemocracy.net) of the BBC's coverage of the Health and Social Care Bill continues to attract much interest, but [small response from the BBC](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/7a59c47de2&ref=opendemocracy.net), while our Editor-in-Chief [reflects on rationality](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/b44dc5170f/29fcd39a46/09a5b0b48d&ref=opendemocracy.net) and the considerable fall-out from his Norwegian **tv series on alternative medicine**.