“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

- Bertrand Russell

About Esmé Madill

Esmé Madill, a consultant in the not for profit sector, works with Shpresa Programme and the Women's Therapy Centre.

Articles by Esmé Madill

Home Secretary, please call off the attack on kidney patient Roseline Akhalu

Esme Madill 21 February 2013

If Theresa May wins her legal battle to have a Leeds transplant patient deported to Nigeria, Roseline Akhalu dies. If Roseline wins, where is the harm?

Kidney transplant case signals deep flaws in UK immigration policy and practice

Esme Madill 16 January 2013

Home Secretary Theresa May’s relentless pursuit of kidney transplant patient Roseline Akhalu is one more sign of crisis within the Home Office and its UK Border Agency. A supporter of Akhalu writes.

A nation’s decency put to the test: decision due on transplant patient’s perilous removal to Nigeria

Esme Madill 19 September 2012

The NHS saved Roseline Akhalu's life. The Home Secretary is about to determine whether the Border Agency may end it.

UK court halts kidney-transplant patient’s deportation, and Colin Firth lends support

Esme Madill 1 June 2012

One arm of the state, the NHS, saves Roseline Akhalu's life. Another, the UK Border Agency, threatens to end it.

Roseline’s journey: a kidney transplant patient meets UK Border Agency contractors

Esme Madill 21 May 2012

Kidney transplant patient Roseline Akhalu was detained by the UK immigration authorities for the second time on Wednesday 16 May and is at risk of deportation to Nigeria where, doctors warn, she will die if she cannot afford medical care. This is Roseline’s account of her first detention in March when, she claims, Border Agency contractors subjected her to cruel and degrading treatment.

My Mum’s encounter with the ‘enemies of enterprise’: let's fight to save the NHS

Esme Madill 21 September 2011

The everyday heroes of the NHS don't get a mention in the government's rhetoric on 'enterprise' and 'modernising the health service'. But these are the people we can trust to keep us healthy and safe.

Britain's host community: who’s in and who’s out?

Esme Madill 5 March 2011

Esme Madill, a consultant in the not for profit sector, spoke last night at a celebration of a London project for Somali children. She asked, if Cameron is calling on us to defend the values of the host community, who is part of this group? Can we have too many community groups, or too much culture?

Cameron is cutting the very projects that make Britain a civilised society.

Esme Madill 17 January 2011

Esmé Madill tells of small charities that make a huge difference to some of the most vulnerable, and whose existence is imperilled by the cuts.

This week's editor

Heather McRobie is a regular contributor to 50.50

Europe from the bottom up

European Union stars in Paris. Flickr/notarim. Some rights reserved.

A new Europe can only come from the bottom up
Etienne Balibar

A social Europe must be a political Europe
Bo Stråth

As Europe is provincialized: a reply to Etienne Balibar
Sandro Mezzadra

European debate

A republican call for a basic income
Daniel Raventos and Julie Wark

Nuclear non-proliferation

Women and the Arab Spring

oDRussia at journalismfestival .com

Mali - the plot thickens

Remote control war

Stay Informed

Sign-up for a free weekly email

Advertising notice

Our Authors

Lis Howell On broadcasting

Dan Hancox Revel, Riot and Rebellion

Martin Rose Bliss Was It in that Dawn to Be Next Door

Vron Ware Up in Arms

Jim Gabour Sunday Comics

James Warner Standing Perpendicular, as books do

Markha Valenta Inter Alia: religion, politics, culture

Paul Rogers on Global security

Mary Kaldor on Human security

openDemocracy Ltd, The Print House, 18 Ashwin Street, London, E8 3DL. Tel: +44 (0) 207 193 0676

openDemocracy

Welcome to openDemocracy! We are a digital commons, publishing high quality news analysis, debates and blogs about the world and the way we govern ourselves. More...

Italian triple whammy

Best of the rest:

Arab Awakening | Can Europe Make it? | Drug and Criminal Justice Policy Forum | OurBeeb

OurKingdom

About us
OurKingdom works to investigate and illuminate the crisis of democracy in Britain and analyse how its failings can be redressed.

We encourage original debate untrammelled by party political loyalties.

We ask how we as citizens can secure liberty, human rights, self-government and real democracy. ...more on OurKingdom

Pick of the debates: Democratic Wealth: building a citizens' economy, edited by Stuart White, uses republican theory to explore ideas around how to democratise the economy. Co-hosted with Politics in Spires, a blog sponsored by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

oD Russia

50.50

Recent articles on 50.50

50.50 Dialogues

About 50.50
50.50 is openDemocracy's section dedicated to exploring issues of gender equality and social justice at the global level.

We are committed to promoting human rights and inclusive democracy through dialogue and debate. But a global debate without the female half of humanity is neither global nor democratic. With this in mind, 50.50 publishes women's analysis, insight and views on current affairs.

Can Europe Make It?

Spread the word

Spread the word is a brand new section of openDemocracy's not-for-profit web platform.

This space is for other not-for-profit organisations of all kinds to publicise your activities and spread the exchange of ideas.

You will be able to link to all your publications, and events anywhere in the world. You will have your own openDemocracy page and all new announcements will be ticker-taped to our front page.

This organisation subscription is available for a modest annual fee, dependent on the size of your organisation.

Please contact Jonathan Bowles at supporters@opendemocracy.net if you are interested in joining.

If you're interested in developing editorial projects on openDemocracy, please see our Editorial partnerships page

We are grateful to the following organisations for their support in developing this initiative:

Norwegian Peacebuilding Resource Centre

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

openSecurity

openEconomy

Arab Awakening

In the months following the start of the Arab Revolutions, articles and analysis poured into openDemocracy from contributors across the Middle East and Europe. Gradually, the impact of Tahrir Square began to extend well beyond the Middle East as democratic inspiration travelled from east to west. Arab Awakening tries to capture that inspiration and use it to help us read a rapidly changing world.

"As students of politics is it is vital to study the power of imagination." -Professor Charles Tripp, SOAS

Debates

Columnists | This week's window on the Middle East

OurNHS