Liberty can't exist in the dark.

Tom Watson, in a speech on the South Bank reclaims civil liberty for the Left and calls on Cameron to revoke his review of the Freedom of Information act; he won't be planning to strengthen it.

  1. The full speech is published at the Labour Press Office site.
  2. In the speech, he says, 'The offer needs to be “every aspect of what we do in your name is open to scrutiny.' which I captured as,
  3. Every [Govt.] decision open to scrutiny. @tom_watson
  4. During the Q&A, I pointed out that thousands of decisions each day are taken by software, and that to be open to scrutiny the software must be open source. I quoted the most recent fuck up at the DoJ as an example of how "Code is [bad] Law".
  5. I have previously explored this issue at the Top of the Policies event in May 2014.
  6. The New Statesman covered the speech,
  7. And so does the Guardian,
  8. My words at the time,
  9. @tom_watson mentions magna carta, mythologisation, Hegel & Rousseau
  10. Other questions covered the Shrewsbury pickets and the Government's lethargy in publishing the requested documents, and how can a Labour Party the successor of the Government that sought to introduce 90 day detention & ID cards claim the mantle of the guardians of liberty, My answer is that it was Labour MPs that made sure these measures fell. The record on investigatory powers is less admirable, but I for one am glad Tom is continuing his crusade and staying true to the principles he's stood by for years.+