You may already know that President Obama is visiting China this week. He has held a Town Hall style meeting in Shanghai with Chinese students. There was a Q and A session following his speech during which he was asked about technology and in particular whether he thinks everyone should be able to use Twitter. His reply did not shy away from tackling this in its wider setting of Freedom of Information :-
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. I noticed that young people — they’re very busy with all these electronics. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone. But I am a big believer in technology and I’m a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information. I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable. They can begin to think for themselves. That generates new ideas. It encourages creativity.
And so I’ve always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I’m a big supporter of non-censorship. This is part of the tradition of the United States that I discussed before, and I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged.
Now, I should tell you, I should be honest, as President of the United States, there are times where I wish information didn’t flow so freely because then I wouldn’t have to listen to people criticizing me all the time. I think people naturally are — when they’re in positions of power sometimes thinks, oh, how could that person say that about me, or that’s irresponsible, or — but the truth is that because in the United States information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don’t want to hear. It forces me to examine what I’m doing on a day-to-day basis to see, am I really doing the very best that I could be doing for the people of the United States.
And I think the Internet has become an even more powerful tool for that kind of citizen participation. In fact, one of the reasons that I won the presidency was because we were able to mobilize young people like yourself to get involved through the Internet. Initially, nobody thought we could win because we didn’t have necessarily the most wealthy supporters; we didn’t have the most powerful political brokers. But through the Internet, people became excited about our campaign and they started to organize and meet and set up campaign activities and events and rallies. And it really ended up creating the kind of bottom-up movement that allowed us to do very well.
Now, that’s not just true in — for government and politics. It’s also true for business. You think about a company like Google that only 20 years ago was — less than 20 years ago was the idea of a couple of people not much older than you. It was a science project. And suddenly because of the Internet, they were able to create an industry that has revolutionized commerce all around the world. So if it had not been for the freedom and the openness that the Internet allows, Google wouldn’t exist.
So I’m a big supporter of not restricting Internet use, Internet access, other information technologies like Twitter. The more open we are, the more we can communicate. And it also helps to draw the world together.
Think about — when I think about my daughters, Malia and Sasha — one is 11, one is 8 — from their room, they can get on the Internet and they can travel to Shanghai. They can go anyplace in the world and they can learn about anything they want to learn about. And that’s just an enormous power that they have. And that helps, I think, promote the kind of understanding that we talked about.
Now, as I said before, there’s always a downside to technology. It also means that terrorists are able to organize on the Internet in ways that they might not have been able to do before. Extremists can mobilize. And so there’s some price that you pay for openness, there’s no denying that. But I think that the good outweighs the bad so much that it’s better to maintain that openness. And that’s part of why I’m so glad that the Internet was part of this forum. Okay?
China has adopted some FOI rules which became effective in 2008. These are the first step in taking the People’s Republic of China to open transparent government. Jamie Horsley of Freedom Info wrote an excellent article about this on their website which can be accessed here.
The move towards FOI in China follows the tradition of investigative journalism. Tong & Sparks in Journalism Studies recount that :- ‘One of the most significant developments in Chinese journalism during the 1990s has been the rise of investigative reporting – news that exposes official corruption and social problems…western observers have hailed this muck-raking style of journalism….as part of the glacial thawing of China’s authoritarian political system.’ Stories in the Chinese press resulting from this kind of journalism include the story of ‘Zhang Jinzhu, a district deputy police chief who drove an imported car while drunk, hitting a bicycle, killing an 11 year old boy and dragging the boy’s father and the bicycle for 1500 metres at full speed until the car was stopped by other outraged drivers. The….story was particularly sensational.’ Although the reporter received death threats, the police chief was eventually tried and sentenced to death for the crime.
Whilst the meeting was streamed live on the White House website it was reportedly only shown on Chinese TV in Shangai rather than being shown across the Republic, suggesting perhaps that some of the recent moves towards transparency are only baby steps towards democracy?
It is reported by the BBC today that a comic drama will be released next autumn based on the story of Heather Brooke’s fight to bring the truth about MPs’ expenses to our attention.
Of course it is true that in dark moments one must turn to black humour but it is debatable that anyone will be in the frame of mind to think this subject funny, even in a year from now. Heather Brooke, the American journalist, worked long and hard to unearth this scandal. It is one of the best uses of Freedom of Information legislation since it was passed in the UK in 2005, and the story has had many repercussions, all important but not really very amusing.
Michael Martin became the first Speaker of the House of Commons to resign in over 300 years. According to The Daily Telegraph his successor, John Bercow, does not seem to be doing the job he signed up for earlier this summer. Having asserted that he would do everything to make the issue of MPs’ expenses more transparent, he now seems to have back-tracked on that promise. Instead of leaving no stone unturned, it appears that the Speaker is now stopping any reform to the system in its tracks, and has prevented any inquiry into the practice of flipping, one of the main sources of abuse among MPs. Flipping means that an MP can claim principal private residence for one house whilst claiming an allowance for another under the Westminster regime for allowances. Some MPs have been forced to pay Capital Gains Tax on a retrospective basis following the revelations as to the truth behind the fiction. One of the initial points one learns at taxation lectures is the difference between tax evasion and tax avoidance.
Having taken all the money they could get their hands on, only some of which has been paid back to the government, and having enjoyed all the holiday entitlement that goes with being an MP, now perhaps is the time for some of those responsible to be charged with the crimes which they have undoubtedly committed, but it is not really yet time to laugh about it all.
So Christopher Lee has finally been knighted, appropriately the day before Hallowe’en, given his Hammer House of Horror career. Lee is now 87. He walked with a stick when attending Buckingham Palace to receive his honour, although he is clearly very fit for his advanced years. But he is still a very old man by anyone’s calculations.
So is the honours system in Britain now off kilter?
When a damehood was awarded to Kelly Holmes in 2005 how many of us had actually heard of her before then? It perhaps seemed that she had simply won a couple of races and was given a damehood for it. Of course it is conceded that some effort would have been required to win these races, but surely there has to be some kind of uniform system to decide the way the honours are handed out which recognises sustained effort rather than just a short burst?
Others honoured this year in the Birthday Honours List included golfer Nick Faldo. He has been a successful sportsman for many years, winning titles worldwide and becoming a household name. It seems a fitting tribute to his talent, hard work and long term contribution to the sport that he has been honoured in this way. Hopefully, having been given the honour in early middle age, he will have enough years left during which to both enjoy the accolade and also use it in endorsing charities and other good causes.
Bruce Forsyth is another apparently deserving case. He will be 82 in 2010 and has had a lifetime in showbusiness as well as his unstinting work for the Variety Club. Since he was awarded the CBE in 2005 he cannot be considered for another honour for five years. Why then, had Brucie not done enough to achieve the highest rank of knight of the realm in 2005? He is a household name, and entertainer supreme over many, many years. A petition to have him elevated to a knighthood attracted thousands of signatures but all to no avail. It may be that in the New Year honours list of 2010 he will finally become Sir Bruce, octogenarian supreme.
The Honours system has been reviewed and changed over the last few years and it is asserted by the government that the system is more ‘open, diverse and easy to understand.’ The committee system which decides the nominations that will be fulfilled has been changed, and is now peopled by persons outwith government who have experience in different fields. The system is designed to recognise ‘merit, gallantry and service.’ There are many levels of award including the OBE and CBE which can be handed out to people in many walks of life, and it is quite correct that the pinnacle is reserved for those who have actually reached the appropriate level of achievement in their lives or sporting careers. However it seems to me that awarding a knighthood to an 87 year old who has entertained millions for many years is perhaps a little too late by any standards.
The case of Baby P caused much public outcry and thus to most people reading the news today that Jason Owen will now be released from prison in just two years might seem unjust.
Jason Owen was the lodger in the house where Baby Peter lived with his mother and her boyfriend, who is also Owen’s brother. The court decided that although Owen did nothing to stop the violence against the young baby, he would not necessarily be at risk of doing anything like this again and thus the indeterminate sentence handed down to him was unfair.
But Jason Owen and his brother Steven Barker had a history. They had already tortured their own grandmother, although any proceedings against them were abandoned, principally because the granny died and thus evidence must have been hard to come by.
The Telegraph reported in August that the boys’ own father had denounced them as monsters. So how does our prison system aim to rehabilitate Owen in such a short time? It begs the question if rehabilitation is the aim of the prison system. It certainly does not seem to have punishment in its sights.
Halloween is big, Christmas is even bigger and then of course there is Labour Day, Thanksgiving and New Years!
All these holidays are a time to have fun. Maybe the Americans have it right after all. In Scotland we are very big on Hogmanay, although a little more restrained at Christmas, traditionally a family time so maybe that is why!
Halloween here in the US is very black and orange. Every shop window is dressed in witches and broomsticks and spiders’ webs. Houses are already sporting pumpkins on the doorstep ready to be carved into a leering smile to ward off the bad spirits. Pumpkins are ten a penny here and the photograph shows a display we saw in Napa Valley. Many beautiful colours and all shapes and sizes. Of course since the Americans are mainly derived from immigrants the celebrations had to be brought with them and the Halloween thing came from Ireland!
It is amazing how we do similar things no matter which city we are in at the time. On many Saturdays I can be found wandering up and down at the Farmers’ Market on Castle Terrace in Edinburgh. The quality of the food is very good indeed, even though the prices can be noticeably higher.
Some of the sausages have been delicious, but my personal favourite is the porridge from Stoats.
Peppers!
So whilst on holiday in San Francisco it is refreshing to see that they have a Farmers’ Market here too. The one we found was at the Ferry Terminal. But the amazing presentation completely surpasses anything I have seen in Edinburgh……. Have a look for yourself!
U2 are in California this weekend with their 360 tour. I saw them back in July in Paris and the whole show was just fabulous. The Stade de France is huge but the circular stage arrangement called The Claw lends itself to giving you the best musical experience, both acoustic and visual.
Now you can see it for yourself, live on Youtube this weekend as the nice boys are going to stream it live for you! As the Americans say – enjoy!
The guys over at Technorati have redesigned their site and it goes live today. This is what Wikipedia has to say about Technorati :-’Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati indexes 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media. The name Technorati is a portmanteau of the words technology and literati, which invokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism.’
I am one of the new writers so for my article see this link!
There you are just about to go off to your nice cosy office for another hard day at the coalface. You are glad to have a job, but at the same time you wonder if life could perhaps be a little bit more exciting.
Well it could be – watch this video on the BBC website to see exactly how!
Forgive me, but I do not really believe that this is a scandal of any proportion. Is it therefore newsworthy that BBC Scotland have responded to the FOI request made in July by The Herald, and have now handed over details of expenses claims made by employees of BBC Scotland? The expenses claimed over the last five years during which the legislation has been in force amount to a miserly £77,000.
It has to be remembered that the BBC is publicly funded by the licence fee. That is why an FOI request can be made and had to be answered. There are about 10,000 public bodies in Scotland which are affected by the Freedom of Information Scotland Act otherwise known as FOISA. The reasoning behind the legislation is that all of these public bodies should be accountable to the people they represent. It is a democratic tool. But is it always newsworthy when a reply is made to such a request?
When Heather Brooke made the requests about MPs’ expenses that was another matter entirely. Moats and mortgages, sofas and stamp duty; all of these items were claimed by Westminster MPs, and some of these claims are still being considered by the police and, one hopes, the Serious Fraud Office, with a view to pursuing some of the less honourable among them. At the time the UK government resisted answering the request just as far as it possibly could. The Information Commissioner had ordered that the request should be dealt with but before the information was handed over it was leaked to the Daily Telegraph. One of the more scandalous parts of this story is that the government must have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the legal advice alone in their efforts to try and resist the request.
In an interview with me Heather Brooke asserted that simply the making of an FOI request was in itself newsworthy. And the fact that the government had not responded to her immediately was the foundation for a story. She then became very much of an expert in making requests about the sum expended on photocopying and scanning in an effort to find out if the government was trying to ready itself for release of the information.
FOI is a source of some weighty stories, but it seems to me that the story of the BBC Scotland expenses is not of scandalous proportions at all. The story in The Herald covers the point that a cheeseboard was bought for Griff Rhys Jones at the massive cost of £42. This in the context of a government which squandered many millions on keeping its MPs in the style to which they would like to have become accustomed seems paltry. But perhaps the point is not the £42 but the fact that such information may become more readily available in the future and will ensure that those working for the Beeb are more careful with their claims for expenses even where they are perfectly justified.
Yet another day when bees are mentioned in the press. It is a problem that requires an answer and soon. If we do nothing about the vanishing numbers of bees then there is every danger that we will have nothing to eat in the not too distant future. The link is to an announcement about a film concerning the reducing numbers of bees.
I wrote about this in February of this year in advance of the legislative changes proposed by the EU. But go and see the film mentioned above if you can. It has a limited release in the UK from next week. This is the article I wrote earlier in the year.
The busy bee
In March 2009 the EU will pass legislation which will outlaw at least 22 pesticides from our farms over the next 10 years. EU agriculture ministers will rubber stamp the new law when they meet next month. This, despite the fact that there has been no support from the UK.
The EU will pass the legislation on the basis that the use of the chemicals is considered to be a hazard to farmers’ health. The decision to take them off the market is not based on any risk to the consumer.
Pesticides are used by farmers during the growing process of most crops to prevent disease. The EU has now passed a directive forcing arable farmers to use a restricted list of pesticides on their fields. The products to be banned include those with carcinogenic or “endocrine disrupting” properties.
John Picken, chair of the NFU Scotland Cereals Committee said that “the notion of restricting pesticides sounds good but it is too simplistic and takes no account of the fact that they are already rigorously controlled.”
The UK’s Pesticides Safety Directive has said that the banning of some pesticides will hit UK crops for no appreciable benefit to human health.
So are farmers livelihoods now under threat?
Various crops could be affected. Ordinary carrots and potatoes may become a scarce commodity. The British Carrot Growers Association explained to me that they will suffer increased costs and lower yields and that farmers might only be able to grow about two-thirds of what they could previously. Even if the carrot does not disappear completely from our dinner tables it means that more land will be required. In 21st century speak farmers would increase their carbon footprint!
Robert Dale, immediate past president of the East Lothian branch of NFU Scotland, told me that on his potato farm near Whitekirk he will be rethinking which varieties of potato to grow this year. He intends growing more potatoes for crisps in the coming months rather than the varieties destined for the dinner table as these are more resilient to certain disease. He emphasised that “Quality is absolutely critical these days.” Dale also told me that one of the benefits of GM crops is that they require far less in the way of pest control.
There have been reports carried out examining the impact of the proposed ruling on food prices and it has been suggested that potato prices could double. The Potato Council told me that at the moment “Potatoes offer consumers exceptional value for money. With an average retail price of 63p per kilo, this equates to 5 average servings of potatoes i.e. 5 meals and not only are potatoes good value, but they taste, a very versatile and highly nutritious.”
On the other hand, it could be good news for bees if fewer pesticides are used in future. The world’s bumble bee population is apparently in decline, although it should be pointed out that part of that decline is due to other factors than simply the use of pesticides. Bees play an important role in pollinating crops worldwide. In the US beehives are loaded onto trucks and transported to areas where pollination is required and then reloaded into the hives and moved on to another location. This is how important they are to the US agricultural industry.
Stuart Bailey, Chairman, Rowse Honey Ltd, during an interview with me said that “The possible effects of pesticides on honeybees is a concern to beekeepers. In 1999, France banned the use of Imidacloprid on sunflowers after large numbers of honeybees died after its use. In May last year Germany suspended the registration of eight neonicotinoid pesticide seed treatments following honeybee losses of 50%……the Co-op has banned the use of eight pesticides on its own-brand fresh produce in order to safeguard the honeybee population.”
Even the Queen has taken steps to ensure that beehives have been installed on the roof of her properties in Regent Street London. The London Evening Standard reported this in August 2009.
I know you feel neglected but I have a few things on at the moment pulling me in different directions. For the moment here is my latest published article in World Architecture News.
Two things dear reader……(are there any readers out there…..if so perhaps you could let me know!)
One thing is that the most prolific and important fashion blogger writing this week is only 13. Her name is Tavi Gevinson and she is so important that she got invited to Fashion Week in New York. You can read her blog too.
The other thing is that, having read Tavi’s blog, I noticed that she used images from the NASA website – so here just for you is the link to the Astronomy Picture of the Day. They are amazing images and will serve as a reminder that we are all part of something much bigger than you or I can possibly imagine and more important than fashion. But fashion has its own place in our lives and some comments on this topic will form part of my new posts soon…..
The London Library is a very scary place indeed. I have just finished a walk along several corridors of books where the floor was made of metal with holes in it (big holes at that) and where the view downwards went on for two floors. This type of flooring is called grille flooring and could easily be used at Alton Towers to scare even the most confident of teenagers. I could not concentrate wholeheartedly on the books I was being shown for fear of falling through. I was however much comforted by the librarian telling me that he did not think anyone had come to grief at any time whilst perusing the one million books which are held here. I still felt as though it was some kind of initiation which I had to pass through to reach the reading room on the first floor. The room is a hotchpotch of modern desks for laptops combined with old wooden bookshelves and some comfortable looking leather armchairs which would not look out of place in a gentleman’s club. The room is not over large but has the benefit of high windows to Mason’s Yard at the rear allowing it to be flooded with natural daylight. The library has been here since 1841 and is the world’s largest independent lending library.
It is housed at 14 St James Square placed very handily indeed for both The Ritz and Fortnum & Mason’s where one hopes to lunch today, and only a short distance away from the biggest cigar shop I have ever seen. This is an area of London which I have not had the opportunity of exploring very much before so I am happy to be here to introduce you to yet another gem of information management, which is after all what a library is – and a place for people-watching!
There is a lovely sign at the front desk telling you that you are welcome to take some free earplugs. They are having renovations carried out and it is clearly something which has caused some grief to some of the members. You too could be a member here: it costs about £400 a year and there is no waiting list unlike many golf clubs, but you would be joining the hallowed list of former members such as Churchill, Elgar, Kipling and Huxley (but curiously not D H Lawrence). The previous patron was The Queen Mother and the current president is Tom Stoppard. According to the very helpful librarian who led me on my expedition to the far reaches of the library this morning, this is a “humanities” library where books are stored according to size as well as title. (Octavio is the default wouldn’t you know)
It certainly has an ancient and hallowed feel about it – but in any library there is always one keyboard thumper and this morning it is the guy with the bald pate and glasses who is emailing his life story to some far-flung friend in the key of G.
Westminster Public Library on Buckingham Palace Road, London is another imposing Victorian building. Inside the reading room there is a minstrels’ gallery where books are also stored. The balustrade is of wrought iron and reminds me of a school. There are people here of all ages and backgrounds.
There is the bag lady. She has two huge suitcases on wheels with her which she insists on keeping right beside her whilst she devours the newspaper.
Until about half an hour ago there was Angry Old Woman sitting next to me who gave everyone the death stare if they dared make any noise whatsoever – notwithstanding that this is not the most silent library I have ever been in as it is situated on a main road (and the lofty windows are open!)
The good thing is that there is free wifi, comfortable chairs which do not scrape on the floor, and it is light and airy, a huge benefit in any library.
The guy next to me who had a penchant for thumping on the keyboard has thankfully kept his visit brief, and hopefully the woman in front of me who is now on the phone will not stay long either…….
