Contribute

Purpose

This site aims to cover civil liberties and human rights issues relating to the UK. These will usually be about politics or policing, or sometimes about the slightly blurry boundary between the two. If this isn't what you want to write about, this might not be the right place for your article - you can either email us and check, or submit it and see whether it gets published. You retain copyright, so submitting it to us doesn't stop you publishing it elsewhere (as long as you don't promise anyone an exclusive).

You can submit articles using our simple online form here.

Guidelines for articles

• Articles can be long or short; roughly between 500 and 4000 words is a good length for a blog post.
• Original analysis is encouraged, but not essential. Collecting and summarising other people's comments with a clear explanation of the issue and how it relates to the site's remit is fine. If you're only linking to or quoting a single article, rather than offering a general round-up, then we prefer you to add some remarks of your own so we aren't just repeating other content. We are particularly keen to see articles that link two disparate issues and draw a connection between them revealing a broader civil liberties theme.
• Please write in a neutral and widely-readable style. Accessible, straightforward language is preferred, avoiding waffle, hyperbole and unnecessary jargon. Think 'journalistic'. If your written English isn't great, use spell-checkers and grammar checkers. Please don't use txt-spk, slang or obscenities.
• We don't require academic standards, but facts should be checkable and backed up by evidence wherever possible. You can be opinionated, but you should be accurate. Any quotes should include a source link and credit.
• Preferred topics include privacy, surveillance, censorship, national data collection and storage, abuses of police and Parliamentary powers (particularly related to anti-terrorism), expansions of police powers, and any UK examples of top-down human rights offences which are supported or justified by legislation, such as officials impeding people's freedom of movement or right to congregate.
• There should be a clear focus on UK politics. If you refer to news stories from other countries, it should be clear how they are relevant to what's happening in the UK.
• The preferred method for submitting contributions is to create a login (free, and anyone can do this) and use the contribute an article link in the sidebar. This will send the article to a queue for us to edit and approve. This means that the article will be posted under your own username, which we can't do if you submit it by email.
• We will edit your text where necessary, but we'll try to retain your original meaning wherever possible, and copyright remains yours. If we make any big changes to your copy we'll send it back to you before posting to check you're happy.

Resources

twitter.com/PoliceStateUK has a live feed of relevant news items which you're welcome to use as a starting point.

Click on Tags to view topics we've covered in the past; follow-ups are always appreciated, particularly if the item is back in the news.

The Guardian's civil liberties and liberty central sections are also a great source of topics. Check out our Links page for more online resources.