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# The Week in 1 Minute:  Getting back down to business (January 7 – 13 on openDemocracy)
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/week-in-1-minute-getting-back-down-to-business-january-7-13-on-opendemocracy/
- Published: 2013-05-23T14:05:47.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-23T01:26:25.000Z
- Description: As we said good-bye to the best of 2012, Dan Hancox began our 2013 coverage and a new column - Revel, Riot, and Rebellion – with a spirited ‘good riddance’ to 2012 in Britain.
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: The Week in 1 Minute, #Migrated, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 17:36, #appended-excerpt

The uproar in India at the **brutal gang rape of a 23 year old student** elicits oD commentary at its best, from 50.50’s [Naila Kabeer](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/ad673e0924&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [Rachira Gupta](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/8cfae3c16c&ref=opendemocracy.net) posing the haunting question of what needs to be done to counter the idea that women are commodities, to [N Jayaram’s warning](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/4ff4473f5b&ref=opendemocracy.net) that India could become a country where retribution and insecurity rule, and the nuanced conclusions of [Vijay Nagaraj](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/d332304aec&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
[Angshukanta Chakraborty](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/0bbdc493bd&ref=opendemocracy.net) considerably broadens the provocation by finding ‘ravished maidens’ so recurrent in world literature and myth down the centuries as to be **an ongoing expression of ‘institutionalised rape’**. But it takes Julian Sayarer, a cyclist who has circumnavigated the globe, to tell us [what these protests really mean](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/1368622c8b&ref=opendemocracy.net) for all of us.  
  
**oD Russia** gets down to business with **a new series on the Russian economy** and its problems: two overviews by Dmitry Travin on [the reasons for the fall in GDP growth](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/d2103db98b&ref=opendemocracy.net) rates and Vladimir Gryaznyevich, looking at [the life of an ordinary person](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/510c737b57&ref=opendemocracy.net) in St Petersburg – Pavel Usanov on the [investment climate](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/dd3db5841a&ref=opendemocracy.net) in Russia today, [Andrey Zaostrovtsev](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/5448533bc4&ref=opendemocracy.net) on the negative effect on that climate of senior officials who wield considerable influence in the business sphere, and Zaostrovtsev on [pension reform](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/2fbc8ea4d7&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
They are not the only ones with problems. Ann Pettifor says **1100 professional economists at the IMF have made a mistake** [which threatens global stability](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/1a5cf4f957&ref=opendemocracy.net), while Mario Pianta and Alessandro Bramucci ask [why European economic forecasts always get it wrong](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/07f37af38a&ref=opendemocracy.net), and John Grayson and Adri Nieuwhof give us [‘Ten reasons to vote for G4S as the World’s Worst Company’.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/4db4bf6b9c&ref=opendemocracy.net)  
  
Bernard Rorke informs us that **2013 is the European Year of Citizens**, but presents [a shocking catalogue of European ill-treatment of Roma](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/9e8d56bef8&ref=opendemocracy.net), while Jan Hornat gives us unusual insight into how Czech energy policy is being [silenced by competition between the United States and Russia.](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/11aebc488b&ref=opendemocracy.net)  
  
We have discovered **the ‘Brexit’ word**: [David Blunkett explains](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/c021aed3ee&ref=opendemocracy.net) British ambivalence towards the EU, while René Schwok [warns Euro-sceptics](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/e8e3902ad0&ref=opendemocracy.net) against any **premature hankering after the Swiss model**. Compare both to the French relationship to the EU in Rosemary Bechler’s lively December interview with [Jean-Luc Melénchon, leader of the Left Front](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/5ff295f2f3&ref=opendemocracy.net).  
  
On **OurKingdom**,[ Jeremy Gilbert](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/9fb0f4499f&ref=opendemocracy.net) looks back to ourBeeb and pays a tribute to a BBC series on that most elusive of concepts, ‘culture’. We have Ken Loach on the [Battle of Algiers](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/f8be738b93&ref=opendemocracy.net) (short), [Edna Longley](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/411dd40d1c&ref=opendemocracy.net) on the poetry in the **relationship between Britain and Ireland** (long), and [Dan Smith](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/278c990684&ref=opendemocracy.net) launching his latest State of the World Atlas.  
  
  
**Do not miss:**

- [Doctorow](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/aed15c3829&ref=opendemocracy.net) and [Lessig](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/6d1a69497c&ref=opendemocracy.net) on the suicide of internet activist, coder, Reddit co-founder and information freedom fighter [Aaron Swartz](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/0a7a356a3c&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- Philippe Sands and Helena Kennedy on a [Bill of Rights for the UK](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/7e19f461e6&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- Kevin Goszota on the [treatment of Bradley Manning](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/136fab84ca&ref=opendemocracy.net)
- Yezid Sayigh on [Morsi and Egypt’s Military](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/f70422cc18&ref=opendemocracy.net)

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As we said good-bye to the [best of 2012](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/0290ef960a&ref=opendemocracy.net), Dan Hancox **began our 2013 coverage and a new column** \- Revel, Riot, and Rebellion – with [a spirited ‘good riddance’ to 2012 in Britain](http://cts.vresp.com/c/?openDemocracy/7af7a3ac71/7262321cfa/61914dd8d8&ref=opendemocracy.net).