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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.
- The full speech is published at the Labour Press Office site.
- David Cameron is governing from the shadows - speech by Tom WatsonTom Watson MP, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party & Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, said:Throughout my 14 years as an MP I have grappled with notions of privacy and transparency, trust and accountability.We don't need to look much further than previous police inquiries - stretching back decades and
- 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,
- Every [Govt.] decision open to scrutiny. @tom_watson
- 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".
A tiny government error has affected 20,000 divorced people
Divorced couples may be forced to return to court to renegotiate their separation after it emerged a Government software error may have altered the terms of their settlement. It is believed the software glitch has affected "Form E" - an online form filled in at the end of divorces that details divorcee's finances.- I have previously explored this issue at the Top of the Policies event in May 2014.
Pragmatic Radicalism's Top of the Policies on the Digital Revolution
As promised I popped over Pragmatic Radicalism's the Top of the Manifestos event run by @LabourDigital. I proposed that the regulator's code must be open and this can be seen at their updated event page. I presented a pitch entitled, The regulators code must be open but sixty seconds isn't long.- The New Statesman covered the speech,
Tom Watson bids to reclaim personal liberty for the left
A few years ago, Paul Hawkes was imprisoned in a Bavarian castle. He escaped by fashioning a cord out of curtains and sheets, which he used to abseil out of the window. Friends joked that this was just another day in the life of a private investigator, but Paul's captors weren't criminal masterminds - they were hospitality staff.- And so does the Guardian,
Tom Watson urges David Cameron to drop 'sinister' FoI review
David Cameron must abandon his "sinister" review of the Freedom of Information Act that could return the UK to the dark ages of private government, Tom Watson has said. In a speech in London, the Labour deputy leader urged the government to drop its FOI commission which has itself been condemned for lacking transparency and initially planning to take evidence in private.- My words at the time,
- @tom_watson mentions magna carta, mythologisation, Hegel & Rousseau
- 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.+