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Recent Posts
- Write a letter if you want to defeat the NSA surveillance state
- In defence of PRISM: why we need governments in cyberspace.
- What Lord Tebbit shares with Islamists: Woolwich, Islam and the struggle with Liberalism
- Prosecution and the art of social media writing: reflections on McAlpine v Bercow
- Tentative thoughts on Woolwich Attack
Archives
Category Archives: local government
The death of Daniel Morgan and the (im)possibility of Justice
A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.” —Socrates, in Plato’s Apology, 31d–32a Daniel Morgan died with an axe in his face. We … Continue reading
Posted in Government, local government, philosophy, public sector, statesmanship, transparency
Tagged Crown Prosecution Service, current-events, Daniel Morgan, Leveson Inquiry, Metropolitan Police, Natural justice, police investigations, Political Justice, political legitimacy, political repression, Politics, United States
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No time for history? Take a video tour of a County Record Office
In a previous blog, on Jimmy Savile and the Shaw report I mentioned the need to visit the County Record Office to know how our collective memory was stored. For many people, this may prove difficult because of the … Continue reading
Posted in Government, local government, localism, public sector, scholarship, transparency
Tagged County Record Office, Essex, Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland, video, Youtube
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Open data creates inefficient government and why this is good
The promise that open data will improve government efficiency is misplaced. Every administration claims it will make government effective and efficient. We had Clinton’s Reinventing Government and Bush’s reforms after 11 September. Neither has delivered as it promised. In large … Continue reading
Have hypertext and hyperlink been over-hyped? The view from local government.
Since the dawn of the social media age, we have been treated to various claims that hypertext and hyperlinks will change the way we work, read, and write. There were even claims that hyperlinks will subvert hierarchies. Yet, … Continue reading
Who speaks for a political organisation in the age of social media?
Today the LGiU published a briefing on the two-year study by the Young Foundation (funded by DCLG) called Local 2.0. The report is well worth a read because it shows what is being done on the ground with social media. … Continue reading
Why did I start blogging? Reflections after my 50th blog posts.
I finally made it to 50. When I started blogging, I decided that once I reached 50 posts I would decide whether to continue or stop. Either I would not make it, through boredom, fear, too much hard work or … Continue reading
Posted in education, FOIA, good writing, Government, local government, scholarship
Tagged Academia, blog, blogging, Community of practice, Diplo, Jiscmail, United States, Vietnam War
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Will the Big Blue Button come to the UK? A records management revolution too far?
The Department of Health has published its “The Power of Information: Putting all of us in control of the health and care information we need”. The document sets out how it will use information to fulfil its obligations found in … Continue reading
Will the reform of FOIA create empty archives: The myth, the threat, or the reality?
In the recent discussions around the future of FOIA, there have been important actors missing: records management and archives. Their absence creates three problems. Two are understandable and relatively minor. The third is the most subtle and the most dangerous … Continue reading
In defence of frivolous requests: FOIA and political accountability.
The FOIA is under post legislative scrutiny by the justice select committee. The written and oral evidence provided showed a concerned for frivolous or time wasting requests. I write here to defend one of these requests and show that they … Continue reading
Can social media reduce the cost of responding to foi requests?
In the recent written evidence to the Justice select committee reviewing FOIA in the UK, the “cost” of FOI has been discussed. Often, the witnesses want to cut this cost by limiting the number of requests. I would argue that … Continue reading
