Reacting to the DCMS select committee report on “Press standards, privacy and libel”, which has just been published, Chris Huhne has said:
This report blows a gaping hole in the News of the World’s line that only a sole rogue reporter was involved in illegal hacking of phones, and reveals enormous worries about the feeble response of the Metropolitan Police in investigating what was clearly widespread illegal activity.
There are very serious issues at stake here for the privacy of the citizen and the report highlights deep concern at the weak reaction to these illegal intrusions by News International, the Press Complaints Commission ,
The Electoral Commission’s report into the November 2009 Parliamentary by-election in Glasgow North East has condemned the Labour Party for breaking the Code of Conduct on postal voting, saying the party repeatedly failed to process postal vote forms promptly.
The Code allows parties to distribute to the public forms for signing up to postal votes and to have them returned to a party address. This makes sense in circumstances such as the forms being in with a mailing which also asks for donations to the campaign where giving two different return addresses could result in items going to the wrong place and council staff having to send on political donations to the right address.
However, to guard against misuse the Code – whose provisions the Labour Party has been consulted on annually and each year said it consents to – requires such forms to be passed on by a political party within two working days of receipt.
In Glasgow North East this deadline was broken by the Labour Party and the Electoral Commission says that, “When the Commission reported the concerns that the party had unduly delayed the return of applications for postal votes to the ERO, his staff undertook a spot-check of those applications and discovered that more than 100 forms had been signed and dated by the elector more than a week earlier, and in some cases, more than one month earlier.”
The Labour Party has however defended its actions, with The Guardian reporting that, “The commission’s conclusions were vigorously challenged by the Labour party, which will be asking the commission to justify its report’s conclusions, a spokesman disclosed. He said the report had ignored the significant impact on the delivery of postal vote applications by the postal strike, which had seriously affected every party’s campaign, despite this being highlighted in meetings between Labour and commission officials.”
The Commission was also critical of the long delay by Labour before calling the by-election. “The procedures for calling a by-election are complex and in this instance led to voters being without an MP for nearly five months,” said Jenny Watson, Chair of the Electoral Commission. “The Electoral Commission believes the UK Parliament should consider how long a Westminster seat should be able to remain vacant to ensure voters can elect a new MP in a timely way.”
From a party news release ahead of Jo Swinson and Lynne Featherstone meeting with representatives of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA):
Commenting on today’s report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists calling for airbrushed images to be ‘kitemarked’, Liberal Democrat MP, Jo Swinson said:
“The Royal College of Psychiatrists makes it crystal clear that airbrushing plays a harmful role when it comes to negative body image and eating disorders.
“Airbrushing has a really damaging impact on people’s self-esteem and that’s why we’ve called for a labelling system.
“Making sure children are taught to be media-savvy and getting ads which feature unrealistic, unattainable images to …
Like something you’ve read or watched on the internet? Sharing it with others is a good idea because:
1. It helps get the content to a wider audience. Whether it is to share the interest and enjoyment that you got from the piece, or whether it is for publicity purposes because you think it should be seen by more people, sharing the content via sources such as Digg or Facebook is a good way to achieve that.
2. Using one or more of these routes builds up a history for your own future use of what you’ve found and liked.
The public overwhelmingly backs major changes to the way our electoral system is run according to a new poll commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust.
Just under two-thirds of people (65%) agree that, “This country should adopt a new voting system that would give parties seats in Parliament in proportion to their share of votes” and 59% support holding a referendum on changing the voting system used for Parliament. That later number is particularly strong given Gordon Brown’s strong support for the idea; usually having an unpopular high profile figure back a policy makes it less popular.
Girls are feeling under pressure to please boys while boys believe they must sleep with several girls to fit in written by clinical psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos for the Home Office.
She said: “Little boys are always told ‘aren’t you clever, aren’t you strong’. Little girls are told ‘aren’t you pretty?’ even in 2010.
“They are adhering to what society expects and internalising behaviours.”
Dr Papadopoulos cited the example of the computer game Miss Bimbo, where the aim of the game is to accumulate boob jobs and marry a billionaire.
I was rather puzzled by the Sunday Telegrpah’s report today by Melissa Kite on the standing of party leaders, which claimed that Nick Clegg’s net leader performance rating in polling for PoliticsHome had plummeted since last September. Puzzled because that would be way out of line with what the other polls have been saying.
One email exchange with PoliticsHome later and lo, what was reported as a +5% rating in the most recent polling turns out actually to have been a +15% when then suffered a typo.
At +15% the rating not only compares well to Cameron (+12%) and of course …
More than half the public (53%) think ID cards are a bad or very bad idea when reminded that “The government has proposed the introduction of identity cards that, in combination with your passport, will cost around £93”. This compares to 37% saying they are a good or very good idea.
Opposition to ID cards has grown since 2006 when only 33% opposed the idea.
You can read more about the Liberal Democrat opposition to ID cards over on the Freedom Bill website.
The results are from the State of the Nation Survey 2010, a new poll of 2,288 people aged 18+ …
Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.
2 Big Stories: Ethiopian edition
Election Campaign With No Credible Alternatives: Uninspiring
By popular demand, our unrivalled of the Ethiopian elections continues. Previously we’ve brought you news of the punch-up over nomination papers, but today it’s news of an election launch with rather British overtones.
Slightly out of character (!), Iain Dale initially missed a chance to put the boot into Labour in his recent post about Labour’s leaflet printing arrangements. Iain went (at first) for the “this could mean we’re about to have a snap election” line, and only really getting to the real story in a subsequent update.
That’s because what the email about Labour’s leaflet arrangements really tells us is that lots of Labour candidates had finalised key parts of their general election artwork, but now Labour is getting a new slogan and they are having to redo their artwork. In other …
First, I’d met him regularly at Electoral Commission meetings before he became Labour’s General Secretary and he always struck me as a bright, enthusiastic – and young – person. When he was appointed General Secretary I was intrigued as to how someone who seemed so much younger and less experienced in the ways of the Labour Party than previous General Secretaries had made it to the top. For him, it was just nine years from starting work for Labour …
One Labour candidate on the doorstep, talking to one member of the public – but with three other Labour people minding her by the looks of it. Perhaps just a little over-staffed 🙂
There are many reasons people have for posting comments on this site or others: because they’ve got something to add to the conversation, because they want to correct an error, because they like taking part in a debate, because they’ve got a question to ask or a myriad of other reasons.
For those seeking public office, judicious commenting on other people’s sites can also be rather like going to events and meetings in the area; it’s a way of getting to know people, getting known by them and discussing relevant issues. Reaching out to other people’s sites, particularly if they aren’t …
Here’s your starter for ten for our Saturday slot posing a view for debate:
Although it is estimated that no more than 2,000 people in France wear a burka, it has become a hot topic of political debate:
A parliamentary commission proposed a ban on the garment in all public services facilities, including transport.
The commission’s report stops short of recommending a complete public ban on the head-to-toe covering, which conceals the face, wanted by many politicians. Instead, it calls for those wearing the garment to be denied access to hospitals, buses, welfare offices and all other public facilities. (FT)
Last summer we reported that Peter Chegwyn, Lib Dem leader on Gosport Council, had been banned from being a councillor on both Gosport Council and Hampshire County Council for two years in a dispute over a local music festival.
However, Peter Chegwyn has taken that Standards Board ruling to the Hight Court and this week won a significant set of victories. The two-year disqualification from Hampshire County Council was quashed completely. The two-year disqualification from Gosport Borough Council was quashed and replaced by a two-month suspension, and the Judge ordered the Standards Board for England to pay Peter Chegwyn’s full costs.
That’s the question a series of governments across Europe have been grappling with in the last few months. Stolen Swiss bank data reveals key evidence about tax evaders from several countries. Not only is it stolen data but it is only being made available at a price:
A CD identifying around 1500 Germans who have illicit Swiss accounts was procured by a former employee at the Geneva branch of HSBC bank. The disc, which could return an estimated €200 million ($393 million) in lost revenue, was offered to the German Government for €2.5 million…
Merkel and her Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schuble, initially
With the party’s spring federal conference just round the corner, the latest report from the party’s Federal Finance and Administration Committee (FFAC) is out, which gives the chance to compare the party’s finances now with five years ago.
The good news bit
The federal party’s core activities are generating significantly higher income.
General fund surplus after income generation costs:
2004 £2,642,253
2009 £3,214,500
That 22% increase is impressive, particularly given the recession in 2009 and its impact on fundraising.
The no news bit
The federal party’s debts have not changed much over the last five years, with only a very small rise in the accumulated deficit on the general …
Does the expenses scandal… Makes me more likely to vote at the coming election, to express my anger at the way some politicians have behaved 14%< Makes me more likely NOT to vote, because politicians are much the same, and I don’t trust any of them any longer 12%
Net: +2% Make no difference, I will vote anyway 64% Make no difference, I will NOT vote anyway 5% Don’t know 5%
The usual caveats apply that this is only one poll and also that people are often more likely to give what is seen as a socially acceptable answer than to …
Not very, if the “Scrap ID cards” campaign on MyConservatives.com is anything to go by. At the time of writing, it has raised only £100 towards its £5,000 target and got the signatures of just 46 people.
Oh, and no – it’s not a new campaign that has only just been added. Indeed, from the statistics on the embedded YouTube film, the campaign looks to have been there since 28 September, which makes it one third of a signature per day.
As party of the Parliamentary Reform Lecture Series organised by the Hansard Society, David Howarth MP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and Shadow Solicitor General) will give a talk examining the Liberal Democrat’s priorities for reform of Parliament.
It’s at 6pm on March 15th. It’s being held at the Houses of Parliament and is open to the public. Please email [email protected] to register.
The talk is one of a series the Hansard Society is running (one each from each of the main parties) to draw attention to the fact that there is still much progress to be made in the area …
Even the keenest, most aggressive deficit cutting rhetoric used in any of the main political parties still envisages a large deficit for many years to come. Politics over the next decade is likely to be hugely shaped by this backdrop. It won’t squeeze out all other issues but, just as the 9/11 terrorist atrocities caused civil liberties and foreign affairs to dominate much of the political debate in subsequent years, the deficit is likely to dominate over the next few.
What will the practical consequences of that be? What issues may come to dominate political debate?
Mailings intended to tell people who have recently moved how to get on the electoral register have mistakenly been going out to people who have not moved in years.
A circular from the Electoral Commission sent to councils around the country explains,
As you will be aware, the Commission is currently running a campaign to encourage home movers to register to vote. It has become apparent that there is a problem with one of the data sources being used for the campaign, resulting in some people who have not recently moved home being sent the mailing in error. We are
With so much political attention on the next general election, it’s easy to forget that there are a large number of council seats up for election on the first Thursday in May. Many of those wielding power after the local votes are counted will have far more power than MPs or even junior ministers.
What’s up for election?
It’s a big round of local elections:
All the seats in the 32 London boroughs
One third of the seats in the 36 Mets
One third of the seats in 19 20 unitary authorities
Yes, someone said something foolish on Twitter. Yes, he then dug himself into a hole with an explanation that doesn’t stack up. Yes, he shouldn’t have done it.
But even for a Twitter-holic like me, you’ve got to wonder quite why this story is garnering so much online chatter in comparison with the news we may be deprived of the chance to find out the truth as to whether or not one of David Cameron’s top advisers headed up an organisation that carried out systematic and widespread criminal activity.
That is the sort of moral blindness and indifference to rule breaking which …
Sharing of bank records with the US started in 2001 in an effort to tackle terrorism. However, the European Parliament has rejected new proposed agreement after heated criticisms that too much private information could be handed over without good reason.
The European Parliament has rejected a proposed interim agreement on SWIFT – under which the US gets access to European bank transactions…
Rapporteur Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert from the Netherlands said the Council had not been tough enough on data protection and rules in the interim agreement on data protection were not proportionate to the security supposedly provided.
The Hansard Society has a new report out which asks the public what they want out of politicians and the political system online.
Although many studies have looked at what politicians do or don’t do online, those looking at what the public actually wants are rather rarer. That makes this a particularly welcome report and is based on:
Two samples, the first is a national survey of individuals who are already online and the second a group of ‘digital leaders’; individuals with a strong interest in social media and politics. The first group is representative of digital Britain and the second group are the ‘early adopters’ of social media and digital technologies.
In many ways the report paints a positive picture, concluding that the country has:
An online population who are actively involved in civic and political life and who see the internet as beneficial for this.
However, this optimism should be tempered with the knowledge that other research has often seen people draw a distinction between being interested in issues and seeing the connection between them and voting, political parties or election results. Although the report has apparently very healthy figures for the proportion of people who have got engaged with the political system, this includes registering to vote – an important and welcome step, but one whose inclusion boosts the headline figures.
Despite their professed enthusiasm for having a bonfire of the quangos, in practice the Conservative Party keep on announcing new ones – and have rather run in to trouble when pressed to explain what’s going on the bonfire (both points I wrote about here).
The tally of new quangos the Conservatives is now at least 19, which sits rather oddly with the rhetoric about culling them. However, that doesn’t mean all the individual proposals are bad ones.
One in particular which appeals to me is an Office of Tax Simplification.
Regular readers may have noticed my love of tangling with bureaucracy. (I …
OK, if you’re going to really insist on thinking that Obama is the Holy Grail of Campaigning To Be Transplanted To The UK Because Our System Is Just Like Theirs, then here’s a useful statistic for you.
The Obama for President campaign raised around $500 million online.
Two-thirds of it came from people clicking a “donate now” link in an email.
The proportion of people giving and the sums people gave on average was low. But with an email list in the millions (10-13 million depending on whose figures you believe) and 1.3 billion email messages being sent out, that added up to …
It’s a mark of a good piece of analysis that it is still sound even if the particular news story that prompted its publication doesn’t stand up for long. And so it is with Stephen’s piece over on Comment is Free, triggered by the Guardian story – firmly rubbished by the party – about the party’s attitude towards coalitions.
So although The Guardian story has been ridiculed – after all the paper has variously reported that the party wants a coalition with the Tories, wants a coalition with Labour or doesn’t want a coalition at all – Stephen’s three tests …
Chloe The Russian army is bogged down east of the Dnieper River in Eastern Ukraine. What possible motive does it have to attack anyone outside the conflict that has b...
paul barker Nine By-elections since May 7th & Reform have only won one, perhaps a sign of hope....
George Thomas I think this article is well written, thank you. This past week has seen a reminder in two different ways of when the LGBTQ+ community supported the miners and ...
Nick Baird Ajax should of course have been cancelled years ago. Unfortunately due to the sunk costs the MOD and Government seem to be converging on a plan to spend another...
Peter Chambers > The standout project is Ajax, which should be immediately cancelled.
Oh if only! Ben Wallace confided that "the money is spent" and that if the programme...
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District council backs a parish council for Market Harborough
New by-election poll gives Burnham 5 point lead
Pope Leo speaks for all liberals when he condemns racism, supports migration, and supports Ukraine
Growing Asylum backlog undermines Government's case
Chloe 
paul barker 
George Thomas 
Nick Baird 
Peter Chambers 