Claire Blackburn

Senior Communications Officer for Action Against Hunger

Learning and accountability is firmly on the NGO agenda nowadays and for Action Against Hunger, it is something we take very seriously. We dedicate a lot of energy into evaluating our programmes, learning from them and, fundamentally, holding ourselves to account for them.

David Willetts

Minister of State for Universities and Science, Conservative MP for Havant

The government is backing or high growth potential technology sector, giving them the best chance to succeed on a global scale. Missions such as the ones launched today will play a vital part in making sure that we can export our exciting innovations abroad, helping to boost the economy and support business.

Maria Miller

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Minister for Women and Equalities

There is no doubt about the fundamental value that we place upon marriage and its role at the heart of our society. Marriage embodies the principles of love, loyalty and commitment - all vital components of a strong society. And it is those principles that we are championing through the Equal Marriage Bill which continues its journey through Parliament tonight.

Nash Riggins

American journalism student and politics geek based in Scotland

I don't say this often, but it's high time that British politics take a page out of Hollywood's playbook: if you don't like something, make a brief - but scathing - offering of condemnation, and then never speak of it again.

Jasdev Singh Rai

Medical Doctor, with MA in politics, human rights activist and community worker

But this entire idea of breaking from Europe and going solo lacks realism. How will UK single compete in a tough economic world on its own. Ukip is harking back to grandiose days of the Empire.

Neil Wallis

Media commentator, former tabloid editor - was under arrest as part of Operation Weeting but now cleared

This week a beautiful little blonde and blue-eyed English girl was horrifically sexually mutilated - by her parents. She will be scarred for life both physically and mentally. She could have died in the attack. This was not a lone assault, however. Such ritualistic violence against children happen on average EVERY week among a particular cult in Britain.

Kate Allen

Director of Amnesty International UK

Late last night I was at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to attend a crucial gathering of Ambassadors and embassy officials from dozens of different nations. A few short weeks ago, the United Nations agreed to adopt the world's first international arms trade treaty. This treaty has the potential to stem the flow of weapons to conflicts; conflicts where thousands of people are killed, injured, raped, and forced to flee from their homes.

Liam McLaughlin

Writer, blogger, reader

Today the issue of economic justice is among the most polarizing and provocative we have. Watching the arguments for and against is often like bloodsport. Is the level of inequality an accurate measure of a country's success? Are bankers or socialists the enemy?

Oana Romocea

Communications Specialist and Researcher in Migration and Media Studies

It is baffling how immigration has changed the game in British politics these days. There are more fundamentally important issues facing British society, most notably a stalled economy that has the country on the edge of a triple-dip recession. Yet, the immigration threat, and the supposed ills it has unleashed on Britain, has gripped the public imagination.

Chibo Onyeji

Chair of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR)

Public and political discourses all too often spread negative perceptions about ethnic minorities and migrants and portray them as a 'burden' to European welfare systems and a constraint on economic growth in the EU. It's now time to put the facts right.

Todd McCandless

F1 Writer

What is the correlation between struggling in the top 10 for the first four races of the season and the new design approach that McLaren have taken for their chassis in 2013? That's what managing director Jonathan Neale says the team is dedicated to finding out.

Zion Lights

Journalist interested in social and urban issues including sustainability, ethics and environmentalism. Columnist at One Green Planet

In a recent interview about the digital currency Bitcoin, Stephen Colbert asked Adam Davidson of NPR's Planet Money about the value of money, sparking the response 'The problem with thinking too much about these questions is you start thinking, wait, what is money?'

Margaret Heffernan

CEO and Author

Of course no one from McDonald's lives in our village, nor do the lawyers doing the dirty work on their behalf. None of them will have to live with the consequences should their application succeed and neither will any of them provide any redress. And this is why I've come to loathe this company.

Anastasia Richardson

Student

So who are the people on benefits, really? The answer actually seems to be most of us. 64% of families, and about 30million individual people - half the total population of the UK. The people on benefits are our friends, colleagues and neighbours, our families, ourselves.

Graeme Keeton

PR and communications professional at a very big hospital

The Mid Staffs report gave nursing a considerable shake, but those bad eggs are not representative of the nursing population, and certainly not of my mother.

Leanne Pero

Founder of The Movement Factory and Women of the Future Awards shortliser

Since the start of the economic downturn and change in government, our voluntary community dance programme has struggled to find funds. Most of the money available is going to large organisations, in the expectation that it will then be filtered out into the community and into smaller delivery projects like ours - but this isn't working.