Despite the denials of responsibility from both parties, a variety of forces including money, the Citizens United Supreme Court Decision, the Gerrymandering of both safe Republican and Democratic Congressional Districts have resulted in the public's general distrust of Washington.

Since the late 18th century, the prospect of full and equal citizenship has animated generations of feminists. Yet citizenship is a troubling proposition for feminism because whilst it promises inclusion it always also enacts exclusion. Citizenship simultaneously creates insiders and outsiders - citizens and aliens, as well as good citizens and bad citizens.

Schools should equip children with intellectual learning and skills for life outside the school gates. One of the most important and practical skills throughout life - and one of the keys to a prosperous adulthood - is the ability to manage money competently.

A commitment to allow prisoners to re-enter society, as opposed to just letting them rot, has real potential to improve the outcome of our justice system for everyone. So go for it Chris, go for it MoJ, go for it prison bosses, and as citizens we need to play our part in supporting this agenda.

As the citizens' initiative has great potential to give people a greater say on the European legislation that affects them, fine-tuning it is well worth the effort.

Using the tagline 'Take Charge of Change,' Being Young and Irish is a series of seminars organised by President Higgins whereby people aged between 17 and 26 can have their say on where Ireland is going.

The first episode of the Channel 4 series, Make Bradford British, sought to address the challenges of developing an inclusive British national identity that accommodates the multicultural reality of daily life in many town and cities across the UK.

Essentially I wanted to help create a forum whereby members of the public who are predominantly members of no political party, could get together and have their say on "big issues" facing them, the local communities and our country.

Lying on a sun bed in Pefkos Greece last August after catching up with a batch of e-mails from constituents on a whole range of issues my mind wandered.

In early 2012, the coalition will decide on whether Citizenship Education will be made non-statutory within the national curriculum. For those who don't know, Citizenship was designed to counter political apathy among young people and engage those at GCSE level on political systems and more importantly, how young people play their part in a modern day democracy.

In contrast to a response to the riots that says 'we must empower teachers to be more disciplinarian, this country is losing its moral fibre' we should use human rights to illustrate the power of liberation and order, rather than simply applying order until liberated from the school gates.