The uncritical understanding of what constitutes a ‘community’ and the failure to grasp what forms of citizen self-government are possible in current conditions is what betrays the intellectual laziness of the Big Society’s key thinkers.
Art and Property Now is an exhibition exploring John Berger’s life as storyteller, artist and critic. You can see it at the Inigo Rooms, Somerset House, London, until November 10, 2012. To celebrate Berger’s 86th birthday, we invited readers to a guided tour of some of the exhibition’s contents an
Edmund Burke’s speeches on India illustrate the emergence of the orientalised political subject. Traces of this in the present can be seen through the relationship between British multiculturalism and the undocumented migrant.
Jeremy Hunt's recently-voiced and ill-founded opinion on abortion adds insult to injury. Coalition austerity policies and attacks on women's rights mean that day by day Britain is becoming no country for women.
A candid and compelling piece from Jean Seaton, the official historian of the BBC, on why the Savile affair is the perfect storm for the Corporation.
The opening response of our Devalue or Else! debate, Robert Skidelsky addresses the arguments of John Mills and suggests devaluation has many potential problems as a means of restoring Britain's economic fortunes.
Reproduced with thanks to Civitas, in this 2012 pamphlet John Mills sets out the case for devaluation as the best means of returning the British economy to balance and prosperity. It is published here in full, except for tables and footnotes, as part of OurKingdom's new series - Devalue or Else!
With a troubled future ahead for the UK, could devaluation hold the key to a more balanced and productive economy? Throwing up a range of political and economic questions beyond the tired dichotomy of austerity vs Keynesian stimulus, the debate will shed fresh light on the UK's economic position a
Before British families bid what could be a final farewell to universal child benefit, we take a look at what is motivating Iain Duncan Smith.
It is twenty years since the premature death of David Widgery, a singular radical who combined a prolific writing and political life with work as a medical doctor in London's East End. A man always "alive to things" is recalled by David Hayes.
An immigration lawyer reveals the alarming degree to which migrants are subjected to monitoring and control outside the detention centre.
After huge opposition, it seems academics in future will not be pressured to research 'the Big Society'. But we're not in safe waters yet.
