Jared Anderson wrote …

Jarred Anderson wrote an interesting little piece on Pulse, questioning how the right to be forgotten can be implemented in the block chain; in my view a false dichotomy since the right to be forgotten is being applied to search engines and the regulators’ need to prove non-repudiation will probably override citizens rights to privacy. It is even more interesting that he catalogues the jurisdictions implementing a strong right to privacy as Argentina and the EU; both places with histories of fascist, neo-fascist, Stalinist regimes and murderous secret police forces. …

Equity

In all the excitement in reporting the politics of #lab16, I forgot to mention the massive pride that the Labour Party is now debt free since we now have ½ million members. Not many people know that ~98% of membership fees are held/kept by the national office; it’s obviously time to rethink this. …

Lies, damn lies & statistics

I am catching up on my reading, and came across this article in the Economist, about the prosecution of Greece’s Chief Statistician, Andreas Georgiou. The article looks at his predecessors in the dock, but finishes with the old canard, Lies, damn lies and statistics, but in this case, statistics is rightly seen as an alternative to the lies. Mrs. L. would approve. …

Labour’s Conference Lost

Labour’s Conference Lost

I was privileged to attend Labour’s Annual Conference in Liverpool as a voting delegate. The Conference was the book-end of a summer in which the Labour Party re-opened the debates about programme and strategy which many had thought finished last year. This article reports my experience and views; it is quite long, about 2750 words and is broken up into sections, Unity and the membership, some comments on the politics of Conference, a short section on the future, also covering the Tuesday atmosphere and Wednesday’s Leader’s speech. This is followed by a commentary on the Rules debate and the surrounding shenanigans; the main part of this article/report is concluded with comments on the state of the debate on Immigration and Brexit.  …

Labour HOLD

A busy day at the office, then out to the streets of Evelyn ward to campaign for Joyce Jacca who’s standing for Labour in a bye-election for Lewisham Council. A sharp one in the Dog & Bell then onto the Catford Constitutional Club to hear the results  and those of the other bye-election in Brockley.

Labour held both seats, well!

ooOOooo

 

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Last Chance

Last Chance

Given Dianne Abbott’s appointment as Shadow Home Secretary I feel there is an opportunity to change and challenge Labour’s position of abstention on the Regulatory Powers Bill. There is some urgency to this as today is the last day in which Peers can place amendments to the 3rd Reading.

The arguments in favour of passing the RPB is that the current surveillance laws are inappropriate for today’s technology and the current regulatory regime is insufficiently powerful. The arguments against are that the legalisation of past illegal practice and the authorisation of new powers are a massive breach of the rights to justice and privacy, there is zero proportionality and the proposals are of unknown effectiveness. …