.............................................................

Al Gore: 'I think a grassroots movement to demand that politics be opened up, and the role of money be diminished, is ... needed now.' Photograph: D Dipasupil/FilmMagic
US democracy has been "hacked" by big business and needs to be reclaimed using the power of the internet to hold politicians to account, according to former US vice-president Al Gore.
Offering a blunt assessment of the extent to which private companies influence decision-making in the US, he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "American politics has fallen into a state of disrepair," in an interview to mark the publication of his new book, The Future.
Gore added: "It can be fixed, but we need to recognise that our democracy has been hacked … It has been taken over … and is being operated for purposes other than those for which it was intended."
.