Open government
How open is your government? The latest Global Open Data Index from the Open Knowledge Foundation ranks 97 nations according to the openness of their data on 10 themes: national statistics, government budget, election results, legislation, national maps, company registers, transport timetables., pollution levels, postcodes and government spending. Useful examples from the UK government at […]
Global slavery index
According to the Walk Free Foundation there are 38.5 million slaves worldwide. including 8,300 in the UK. Read policy reports from the UK government Anti-Slavery International website contains news and links to online resources. Annual reports on human trafficking can be downloaded from the US State Department
Where is the best place to be a woman?
According to the 2014 Global Gender Gap report issued by the World Economic Forum – Iceland is top of the rankings. It benchmarks national gender gaps of 142 countries on economic, political, education- and health-based criteria. ILO website gender data World Bank Genderstats
Kenya and culture
Kenya’s new constitution and cultural rights Based at the Open University, the Katiba project is exploring how new rights given by the 2010 constitution are effecting attitudes towards indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage.
Catalonia Referendum Results
The Catalan News Monitor is a useful English language site created by Plataforma pel Dret de Decidir, an umbrella organisation of more than 700 associations campaigning for the right to vote for independence. It has useful daily news summaries about Catalonia from local and international press and aggregates Twitter postings.
Whitehall Monitor 2014
The Institute for Government has released this fascinating annual report on the size and structure of UK government. Explore data on the resources of individual government departments.
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Try these recommended sources: BBC radio and TV archive footage 1948-1990 Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg has 250 short videos on life in divided Berlin Chronicle of the Wall is a multimedia history compiled by Federal Centre for Political Education, Deutschlandradio and the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam Good contemporary news coverage of the 25th anniversary can […]
Facebook government data requests
The latest update from Facebook shows increasing demands from governments for data on users and content removal. It also provides information on legal challenges.
World ranking of prosperity
Legatum Prosperity Index is an annual ranking of 142 countries. It uses eight categories: economy, entrepreneurship & opportunity, governance, education, health, safety & security, personal freedom and social capital. The website has information on the methodology and data for the last 6 years.
How interconnected is the world?
DHL has just released its latest annual Global Interconnectedness Index which measures the extent of globalization in relation to flows of trade, capital and people. Also see: KOF Index of Globalization Ernst and Young Globalization index Economist ICT Globalisation Index OECD Measurements of economic globalisation.

Recent Comments