One of the best books I've read in the past month is The Return of the Public by Dan Hind. It is a superb analysis of the way in which citizens have lost power in a political and economic system built around the free market.

Both politicians and business people claim that they act in the wider public interest. Yet they are unaccountable to the public, who are excluded from exerting any influence over both the polity and the economy.

Hind argues that the media must be reformed in order to play a key role in restoring democracy.

You can hear him speak on Thursday lunch time at the RSA's London headquarters. More details and tickets here.