Taxpayer funded political ads
Jul 31, 2007 Local Government, Transport
How come the Mayor of London gets to advertise himself at taxpayer expense? I was wondering this as I spotted yet another ‘public service’ poster on London’s tube. These posters seem to become more frequent as the service declines. And their tone is increasingly hectoring with one spotted today reading: ‘Don’t take it out on [...]
New Media Awards
Jul 25, 2007 Blogs I Like
I attended the New Statesman’s New Media Awards last night in the lush surrounds of Westminster Abbey’s College gardens. One might not expect an award for ‘geeks’ to be so glamorous but government IT contracts are now big business and the sponsor for the awards is Atos Origin.
What I noticed from talking to the [...]
Decisions without democracy
Jul 24, 2007 Access Laws, Freedom of Information
A friend of mine, the global freedom of information guru David Banisar, has just released his report on government secrecy, decision-making and democracy. It’s a readable account of the growth of secrecy in the United States during the last six years.
The report shows the expansion of official secrecy in the United States and why this [...]
What would Aristotle do?
Jul 9, 2007 Articles
Just in case you thought it was all worthy hard slog over here at YRTK – I’ve decided to post an off-topic article I wrote on Facebook, Aristotle and friendship. Yes, I know – the world has heard too much about Facebook in recent weeks but can you honestly say you’ve seen it done like [...]
Paying for PR instead of investigators
Jul 9, 2007 Central Government, FOI in Parliament
I’m not the only one concerned about the Information Commissioner’s use of a private public relations firm. Oliver Heald (Conservative MP for North East Hertfordshire) asked the Secretary of State for Justice what public expenditure was incurred by the Information Commissioner’s office in hiring (a) public affairs companies and consultants and (b) public relations companies [...]
Gifts from the Oil men
Jul 9, 2007 Companies, Environment
I am very lucky to have some very good researchers working for me on a corruption monitoring project that is being sponsored by the Open Society Institute’s Justice Initiative. One of the areas we are investigating is the oil extractive industry and City University student Elena Egawhary is doing an excellent job researching the anti-corruption [...]
Ten reasons why MPs’ expenses should be published in detail
Jul 3, 2007 Campaigns
1. In any business, employees must account to the boss for their expenses.
2. In a democracy, politicians work for us. WE are the boss. So why is it that MPs are refusing to account fully to us for how they’re spending OUR money.
3. London MPs are notorious for claiming the max and getting a second home at [...]
Politics Showdown
Jul 3, 2007 Campaigns, Central Government, Freedom of Information
I was on the Politics Show on Sunday talking about my campaign to make MPs’ expense claims more transparent. It was me and three MPs: Nick Hurd (Ruislip-Northwood, Conservative), Simon Hughes (Liberal Democrat MP for North Southwark & Bermondsey) and a Labour MP wearing a brown Corduroy jacket whose name escapes me.
I managed [...]
Article: Google maps give direction
Jul 3, 2007 Articles, Local Government
I wrote this article after attending a conference on geographical information systems. It was also blogged about on the Guardian’s Free our Data campaign site.
Councils bypass Ordnance Survey for Google Maps
The Guardian, Thursday May 31, 2007
Local authorities are increasingly using the free application from the search giant on their websites
Navigating your way around a local [...]
