On the SPERI Comment blog, Sébastien Rioux writes about the rising use of food banks in the UK and other advanced capitalist countries. “The growth of food banks and other forms of hunger-relief charities is a strong reminder of the ‘pseudo-recovery’ we are in and that the financial crisis hasn’t gone away.”

On the PSA’s Political Insight blog, Ipek Demirsu explores the trade-off between human rights and national security in both Britain and Turkey. “There are a number of similarities not only in terms of the content and implementation of the new counter-terrorism measures, but also how these have been balanced vis-a-vis human rights principles.”

On the Whitehall Watch blog, Dave Richards and Martin Smith discuss the antagonistic relationship between civil servants and ministers. “With incoherent reforms to the policy process and confusion over where accountability lies, there is a pressing need for reform – and for someone to lead it.”

The interim Davies Commission regarding increasing airport capacity released its interim report this week. On the Prime blog, Ann Pettifor and Jeremy Smith dispute the economics for a third runway at Heathrow.

On the LSE’s Researching Sociology blog, Judy van der Graaf discusses the need to for risk regulation at a transnational level.