Theresa May is right in The Thick of It at Police Fed Conference

Posted on May 16, 2012 | Leave a comment

Great spot Paul Waugh.

Nicola Murray would be proud.

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School children’s biometric data stored without permission

Posted on May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Those of us who raise concerns around ID cards, CCTV and other issues relating to the clash between civil liberties, security and the state often get criticsed for getting over exciting. “Nothing to hide, nothing to fear” they like to tell us.

There is a story in today’s Telegraph that shows exactly why we need to be so vigilant in protecting our personal data.

Political Editor Robert Winnett reports that about 30 per cet of school are thought to have started using pupils biometric details for purposes such as registration and library services. The schools have not asked permission from the pupil’s parents to utilise this personal data, and “Ministers are concerned over intrusive surveillance by local authorities.
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Ed Miliband – playing the crowd

Posted on May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Ed Miliband has never found a bandwagon he didn’t want to jump on, but his speech to the Royal College of Nurses is rather pushing his luck:

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Rebekah Brooks charge heaps more pressure on Cameron

Posted on May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Image via www.maxfarquar.com

The Brooks family household will not be the only ones reeling from their charges for Perverting the Course of Justice this morning.

Messrs Cameron and Osborne will also have been choking on their cornflakes as the news broke.

There are too many amateur legal analysts spewing their view online today, and this is a deeply complex area of the law to start negotiating at the best of times. Given that nobody is guilty of anything at the moment, and the trial date hasn’t even been set, there isn’t that much to analyse on that front anyway.

However, whatever happens in the High Court, the political implications just got very serious indeed.
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Things are hotting up for Howlett

Posted on May 9, 2012 | 2 Comments

Despite two election victories to become Conservative Future Chairman, Ben Howlett is not the most popular person within the organisation, or the wider Conservative Party. In particular, he has a knack of upsetting high flying women from across the political spectrum.

The latest is Labour Councillor Kate Taylor, who is angry at sexist slights.
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Posted in Conservatives, Politics

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Jeremy Hunt’s Advisor resigns

Posted on April 25, 2012 | Leave a comment

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s Special Advisor Adam Smith has resigned, after revelations about his interactions with News International at the Leveson inquiry yesterday. Hunt will address MPs at 12.30pm today, after Prime Minister’s Questions.

Looks like he is being buried with the bad news.

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Posted in Government (Coalition), Politics

I was going to blog about James Murdoch, Leveson, and Jeremy Hunt…

Posted on April 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

….but then Stephen Tall did it for me.

Not sure we can take Ed too seriously on this one…

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Danny Alexander addresses IFS

Posted on April 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Speech by Chief Secretary, Rt. Hon Danny Alexander MP to the IFS:


Good morning, it’s a pleasure to be here at the IFS.

When this coalition government came into office, Britain faced some of the most substantial fiscal challenges anywhere in the world.

We had the largest forecast budget deficit in the G20 – bigger than many of those European countries whose fiscal challenges are regularly in the news.

The gap between what we raised and what we spent was the greatest in our post-war history.

It’s because of this Government’s leadership that we have sheltered the UK economy from the worst of the storm that continues to affect our Eurozone neighbours.

Britain is contributing to the global rescue package, not seeking support from it.
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Should digital campaigners innovate platforms, or use current tools?

Posted on April 23, 2012 | Leave a comment

Having just re-read an excellent piece by Nick Denys on The Kernel, and its frequent references to innovating platforms, it got me thinking – there are a variety of online tools now that can be used to engage with people, do politicos need to invent new ones as part of our campaigning?

Hootsuite, bit.ly, Facebook and others give useful analytics data, and these can easily be combined in spreadsheets, while Mailchimp and Groupspaces let teams easily build customisable mailing lists. As for video and graphics, well producing and sharing them has never been easier.

It seems then we have the tools for successful, innovative digital campaigning, but just aren’t using them well enough.
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Posted in Technology

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Anonymous hack F1 site in protest of Bahrain GP

Posted on April 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

Hacker collective anonymous have hacked the Formula 1 website:

They are protesting that the event should still be going ahead, despite human rights violations by the regime, and the incarceration of human rights activists. Earlier Prime Minister David Cameron said that the issue was for Formuala 1 to decide, but that “Bahrain is not Syria.”

Seems like the powerful hacker collective would disagree.

Update
The official F1 site – formula1.com also seems to be under attack.

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