I discovered a very interesting fact last night, which I have sourced to Transport2000, and the fact is this: only 13% of journeys in Outer London are made on public transport!
Although I have been walking and cycling more, I have to admit that some of those car journeys were me.
So what stops me from getting out of my car*:
· because I know I can park somewhere, generally for free, when I get to the other end
· because I am terrified of sharing a road with cars, when I’m on my bike and only really cycle across the park to go to the shops
· because I’m worried if I leave my bike anywhere for too long, it will get nicked
· because although it’s very easy for me to get into the centre of London by public transport, getting across town usually means about 2 or 3 connections
I’m not personally that worried about safety…my night bus usage has dropped a lot in recent years: although that’s more a function of age and going to bed early than fear! However, I know other people are and I do try not to travel anywhere on buses between say, 3 and 5pm, because I do find being on a bus full of school kids at times intimidating.
I find it frustrating that Ken Livingstone has really focused all his attention on reducing congestion in the centre and inner London boroughs (quite successfully to be fair, I'm not frustrated by that). However, all his transport strategy aims for in outer London is that the rise in traffic slows. So, in effect, he is targeting an increase in car use in outer London!
For me, personally, the biggest thing to get me out of my car would be a larger, more connected network of cycle lanes; ones that separate me from cars and lorries completely. I think a lot has been done in central London around this, but we need more in outer London. Oh, and can we somehow design cycle routes that don’t disappear when we get to the hard bits like one-way systems and roundabouts! That’s the bit when I need them the most!
I also have a suspicion that if we sorted out school transport, made it a more attractive to parents, who think that kids on buses now have a sort of mobile Lord of the Flies thing going on and don’t want theirs part of it, then we might just get the school run cars off the road. That would reduce car use, and does during holidays, by 20% alone!
*I am aware that you can walk and cycle and still not be going on public transport.
A letter from Tony
Posted in Civil Liberties, e-campaigning, ID Cards, petitions, Road Pricing, Young People on by
Aaaargh! So now we know, what's in store for us if we sign up to a 10 Downing street petition.
Yesterday, horror of horrors, I got an email from Tony Blair, making the case for ID cards. I have so far resisted the temptation to clamp my hands over my ears and sing 'I'm not listening, I can't hear you, la, la, la...' and despite the rather scary proposition of the police 'fishing' for fingerprints at whim, as highlighted on The Today Programme this morning, I'm not going to go into here what's wrong with ID cards.
But, what does interest me is this whole online political engagement 'thing' that has arisen with these petitions. Even though it means I have to receive emails from Tony Blair, I do find it all rather exciting because some of these petitions are involving more than us 'usual suspects'; and if you're reading my blog, then unless you're my Mum or my friend Ali in Holland, you know I mean you!!!
The 'Scrap the ID cards petition' got 28,000 signatures, the road pricing one 1,500,000 and each one of those 1,500,000 is going to get an email dropping into their inbox arguing for the Government Policy. Now, I wouldn't normally wish this on my worst enemy, but actually, I think it is more important that people start to be politically engaged first and then politically engaged with me and the Lib Dems, on the basis that that first bit is harder to achieve than the second.
I got the viral email asking me to sign the road pricing petition via a non political friend, who had sent it on to a number of others. They all probably vote but that's as far as they go; the only regular political discussion they seem to take part in is 'Jo-baiting', an unsurprisingly easy thing to do, perhaps they save the interesting stuff for when I'm not there!
It's also likely that those who are going to get their letter from Tony, were on average younger than the voting population; just that group who seem so disillusioned and disengaged with the political process - this has got to be a good thing for politics and the taxpayers and voters, surely?
I'm not the only one that is really excited about the potential that viral campaigning has, even if it is the Downing St that's got all the email addresses, am I?
Yesterday, horror of horrors, I got an email from Tony Blair, making the case for ID cards. I have so far resisted the temptation to clamp my hands over my ears and sing 'I'm not listening, I can't hear you, la, la, la...' and despite the rather scary proposition of the police 'fishing' for fingerprints at whim, as highlighted on The Today Programme this morning, I'm not going to go into here what's wrong with ID cards.
But, what does interest me is this whole online political engagement 'thing' that has arisen with these petitions. Even though it means I have to receive emails from Tony Blair, I do find it all rather exciting because some of these petitions are involving more than us 'usual suspects'; and if you're reading my blog, then unless you're my Mum or my friend Ali in Holland, you know I mean you!!!
The 'Scrap the ID cards petition' got 28,000 signatures, the road pricing one 1,500,000 and each one of those 1,500,000 is going to get an email dropping into their inbox arguing for the Government Policy. Now, I wouldn't normally wish this on my worst enemy, but actually, I think it is more important that people start to be politically engaged first and then politically engaged with me and the Lib Dems, on the basis that that first bit is harder to achieve than the second.
I got the viral email asking me to sign the road pricing petition via a non political friend, who had sent it on to a number of others. They all probably vote but that's as far as they go; the only regular political discussion they seem to take part in is 'Jo-baiting', an unsurprisingly easy thing to do, perhaps they save the interesting stuff for when I'm not there!
It's also likely that those who are going to get their letter from Tony, were on average younger than the voting population; just that group who seem so disillusioned and disengaged with the political process - this has got to be a good thing for politics and the taxpayers and voters, surely?
I'm not the only one that is really excited about the potential that viral campaigning has, even if it is the Downing St that's got all the email addresses, am I?
More working from home, please!
Posted in Environment, Young People on by
Gary, the Sports Presenter from the Today Programme, couldn't make it through the snow this morning and did his sports bit from his own house! This is good, because it shows that even the Today Programme presenters can 'work from home'!! Hooray!
Why aren't we doing more of this? Why do we all insist on piling into trains, getting into cars and criss crossing the country making ourselves tired and ruining the planet?
It drives me crazy that we don't take advantage of how technology is able to free us and instead just let it enslave us - after all in the UK we work the longest hours and are the least productive country in Europe - or at least we used to be, I don't know how EU enlargement has impacted that.
Of course, the problem here is 'Bosses' because a culture that allows working from home can only come from the top - if your boss doesn't approve, well, you just don't work from home, do you?
And yet, I find it completely illogical that more Bosses don't see the benefits to their teams and therefore themselves of regular 'working from home' - it's almost as if, because they had to sacrifice a home life in order to spend 3 hours a day commuting to and from an office they think that's the only way to succeed. Or, maybe they just want the rest of us to suffer like they do....
In fact, in a number of organisations that I've wroked with, it's only the top Bosses that are allowed to work from home - it's almost as if it's seen as a reward for having practically worked yourself into an early grave..you have to nearly ruin yourself and your family first; what a waste!
There are obviously times when a team needs to get together and work together but I know lots of organisations that , due to historical mergers, operate over multiple sites, hundreds of miles from each other. There are also obviously jobs that can't be done remotely! But these are often the exception. Blimey, if Gary from the Today Programme can work from home, many of the rest of us probably can!
So, they know the technology supports remote working; the economics supports remote working; society supports remote working - for goodness sake in the UK we spend less time with our kids than any other country in Europe, yet lock more of them up when they commit crimes - just think what a difference having an adult around after school could make to so many teenagers!
Many organisations have looked at home working as a way on cutting down the number of desks and space needed; they've sold it in to their senior management as a cost saving idea and consequently, it has failed because that's not what it's really about. (Note: ID Card people - if you're not honest about the real benefits of a course of action, it is very likely to fail)
I think home working, working from home, remote working, whatever you want to call it, needs to be sold in to organisations on the basis of their Corporate Social Responsibility - to flexible working, to being a good employer, to being more productive, to lessening the carbon foot print of the organisation, to having, basically, a slightly less frazzled work force!
Just think, if just half of us, could spend one day out of five working on a PC or a laptop from home, instead of traipsing into the office what that could do for reduction in CO2 emissions, traffic, accidents and our ability to organise delivery and repair people - just that last bit would reduce massive stress in so many people!
Thanks, Gary from the Today Programme!!
Why aren't we doing more of this? Why do we all insist on piling into trains, getting into cars and criss crossing the country making ourselves tired and ruining the planet?
It drives me crazy that we don't take advantage of how technology is able to free us and instead just let it enslave us - after all in the UK we work the longest hours and are the least productive country in Europe - or at least we used to be, I don't know how EU enlargement has impacted that.
Of course, the problem here is 'Bosses' because a culture that allows working from home can only come from the top - if your boss doesn't approve, well, you just don't work from home, do you?
And yet, I find it completely illogical that more Bosses don't see the benefits to their teams and therefore themselves of regular 'working from home' - it's almost as if, because they had to sacrifice a home life in order to spend 3 hours a day commuting to and from an office they think that's the only way to succeed. Or, maybe they just want the rest of us to suffer like they do....
In fact, in a number of organisations that I've wroked with, it's only the top Bosses that are allowed to work from home - it's almost as if it's seen as a reward for having practically worked yourself into an early grave..you have to nearly ruin yourself and your family first; what a waste!
There are obviously times when a team needs to get together and work together but I know lots of organisations that , due to historical mergers, operate over multiple sites, hundreds of miles from each other. There are also obviously jobs that can't be done remotely! But these are often the exception. Blimey, if Gary from the Today Programme can work from home, many of the rest of us probably can!
So, they know the technology supports remote working; the economics supports remote working; society supports remote working - for goodness sake in the UK we spend less time with our kids than any other country in Europe, yet lock more of them up when they commit crimes - just think what a difference having an adult around after school could make to so many teenagers!
Many organisations have looked at home working as a way on cutting down the number of desks and space needed; they've sold it in to their senior management as a cost saving idea and consequently, it has failed because that's not what it's really about. (Note: ID Card people - if you're not honest about the real benefits of a course of action, it is very likely to fail)
I think home working, working from home, remote working, whatever you want to call it, needs to be sold in to organisations on the basis of their Corporate Social Responsibility - to flexible working, to being a good employer, to being more productive, to lessening the carbon foot print of the organisation, to having, basically, a slightly less frazzled work force!
Just think, if just half of us, could spend one day out of five working on a PC or a laptop from home, instead of traipsing into the office what that could do for reduction in CO2 emissions, traffic, accidents and our ability to organise delivery and repair people - just that last bit would reduce massive stress in so many people!
Thanks, Gary from the Today Programme!!
Should we be surprised by the cynicism of Channel 4?
Posted in Big Brother, Media, Reality TV on by
I was interested to listen to Nick Clegg on question time express surprise on Question Time last night at his fellow panel members consensus on the fact that the events in the Big Brother house (especially the diary entry from Shilpa Shetty that she didn't believe that she was a victim of racism) was being orchestrated and manipulated by the producers and editors of Big Brother!
I'm afraid I'm going to have to weigh in here because although I very rarely watch reality TV, unless you count Strictly Come Dancing, I have been a participant / contestant on some a long, long time ago. Well, 2001, to be exact, but it feels a long, long time ago and reality TV has moved on a lot since my experience.
I took part in a programme called (and I'm almost cringing as I write this) 'The Heat is On', the follow up to Castaway 2000. It was filmed at the same time as the first 'Survivor' series was on and at the time we filmed only one series of BB had aired.
I have lots of stories and anecdotes and experiences form my two weeks survival training up in western Scotland and made two very, very good friends from the other participants; it was a unique experience which I would not have been without but one I went into extremely naively.
If there was one thing that I learnt very quickly out there in the wet, rain and with a very empty stomach was that however friendly the production team were to you, they weren't your friends at all.
Some of the participants were fame wannabe's but I don't know what possessed some of the others not realise that every single separate sentence could be used against them out of context to carry on like they did! The production team didn't like the word reality TV and preferred to use 'constructed documentary' - I don't know which is the more honest but I do know that they attempted to manipulate, bring discord and disharmony at every point.
I also came away quite convinced that the production team, whilst they would never pro-actively hawk their grandmother around, would if required sell her to get a good bit of TV.
I saw fellow participants edited into complete caricatures of themselves whilst other people were presented as absolute angels. There were a few characters there but the editor's knife is the most enormous bit of manipulation. That is not to excuse those being manipulated on CBB7 but to illustrate that C4 is complicit in it.
I have to admit I clammed up in front of the cameras pretty quickly, as I never, ever forgot a) that my Mum would be watching b) that anybody I said anything about would eventually hear me saying it and c) that some of the cameraman had had careers in war journalism that I was completely in awe of and wasn't about to shame myself in front of people I respected!
It meant I gave them very little to go on and consequently did not play a starring role in the final edit! I'm quite grateful for that now!
The aim of the first half of the programme was to undertake survival training and earn your place on 'an adventure' in an unspecified place but we were being taught a few words of spanish, swahili and malay, so whatever it was going to be exotic and I was up for it!! So up for it, I was the only person who never expressed anything but a complete desire to go on...which in my continuing naivety I didn't realise was sealing my failure..why on earth would they want to see me achieve my aim? Where was the television in that?
And it worked perfectly. I don't always need 2 weeks of near starvation rations, no sleep and utter exhaustion and a failure to achieve my goal to make me cry but it sure did help! I was the first person in over two weeks to have both camera crews filming me at the same time; on the final edit my tears were shown in slow motion! I had finally provided them with TV worth watching. Oh dear! I laugh at it now but the flurry of calls by friends and family on the night that it was aired was very welcome.
I don't mind really, that was all part of the deal, I guess. But it taught me a lot about the relationship between the media and anybody wanting to court it.
Where there's muck there's brass; the producers are doing what they're paid to do and produce TV that everybody wants to watch. If it looks like it's getting a bit hairy, financially then they will go in and sort it out and that was what Shilpa's diary room visit was about yesterday; to diffuse the potential row so that C4 could continue raking in the money. Is that responsible or not? Probably not, but they're not paid to be responsible.
I'm afraid I'm going to have to weigh in here because although I very rarely watch reality TV, unless you count Strictly Come Dancing, I have been a participant / contestant on some a long, long time ago. Well, 2001, to be exact, but it feels a long, long time ago and reality TV has moved on a lot since my experience.
I took part in a programme called (and I'm almost cringing as I write this) 'The Heat is On', the follow up to Castaway 2000. It was filmed at the same time as the first 'Survivor' series was on and at the time we filmed only one series of BB had aired.
I have lots of stories and anecdotes and experiences form my two weeks survival training up in western Scotland and made two very, very good friends from the other participants; it was a unique experience which I would not have been without but one I went into extremely naively.
If there was one thing that I learnt very quickly out there in the wet, rain and with a very empty stomach was that however friendly the production team were to you, they weren't your friends at all.
Some of the participants were fame wannabe's but I don't know what possessed some of the others not realise that every single separate sentence could be used against them out of context to carry on like they did! The production team didn't like the word reality TV and preferred to use 'constructed documentary' - I don't know which is the more honest but I do know that they attempted to manipulate, bring discord and disharmony at every point.
I also came away quite convinced that the production team, whilst they would never pro-actively hawk their grandmother around, would if required sell her to get a good bit of TV.
I saw fellow participants edited into complete caricatures of themselves whilst other people were presented as absolute angels. There were a few characters there but the editor's knife is the most enormous bit of manipulation. That is not to excuse those being manipulated on CBB7 but to illustrate that C4 is complicit in it.
I have to admit I clammed up in front of the cameras pretty quickly, as I never, ever forgot a) that my Mum would be watching b) that anybody I said anything about would eventually hear me saying it and c) that some of the cameraman had had careers in war journalism that I was completely in awe of and wasn't about to shame myself in front of people I respected!
It meant I gave them very little to go on and consequently did not play a starring role in the final edit! I'm quite grateful for that now!
The aim of the first half of the programme was to undertake survival training and earn your place on 'an adventure' in an unspecified place but we were being taught a few words of spanish, swahili and malay, so whatever it was going to be exotic and I was up for it!! So up for it, I was the only person who never expressed anything but a complete desire to go on...which in my continuing naivety I didn't realise was sealing my failure..why on earth would they want to see me achieve my aim? Where was the television in that?
And it worked perfectly. I don't always need 2 weeks of near starvation rations, no sleep and utter exhaustion and a failure to achieve my goal to make me cry but it sure did help! I was the first person in over two weeks to have both camera crews filming me at the same time; on the final edit my tears were shown in slow motion! I had finally provided them with TV worth watching. Oh dear! I laugh at it now but the flurry of calls by friends and family on the night that it was aired was very welcome.
I don't mind really, that was all part of the deal, I guess. But it taught me a lot about the relationship between the media and anybody wanting to court it.
Where there's muck there's brass; the producers are doing what they're paid to do and produce TV that everybody wants to watch. If it looks like it's getting a bit hairy, financially then they will go in and sort it out and that was what Shilpa's diary room visit was about yesterday; to diffuse the potential row so that C4 could continue raking in the money. Is that responsible or not? Probably not, but they're not paid to be responsible.
Look out south east London, here we come!
Posted in Funding, Lewisham and Beckenham North on byI have just finished writing up the Events and Fund-raising Plan for the new Lewisham & Beckenham North Local Party and I’m exhausted already! It is quite an ambitious plan with something going on almost every week of the next year. My next job is to somehow replace my name as key contact on the vast majority of those events; otherwise I can forget finding the time to blog!
Actually, I am very excited about what's in store for the next year and very excited about the new local party that my patch of London now belongs to. The events calendar we have planned is busy but Lewisham & Beckenham North can rise to the challenge, I’m sure. We have for starters, the intriguingly named Blackheath Supper Club which this month has Lord Tim Garden as Guest Speaker. Then there’s a monthly pizza and politics and what I’m really looking forward to: 3 Quiz Nights!!! I’m hoping to get some local non Lib Dem friends along to that and need to make sure I’m not the question master as I would not be able to resist answering my own questions!
I’m the fundraising and events bod on the local party Exec and am very aware that we need to up our fundraising game like never before as knowing that we have two very promising seats raring to go and the local membership has a finite pot of money to dip into. But I hope, by having some events that will be as enjoyable as they will be functional, their cost will feel less of a donation and more like the price of a good value night out will help!
It is a challenge but being able to raise money is the sign of success and commitment and whilst I am happy for individual donations being capped, I do not agree with the taxpayer funding the political parties - even if it would get me off the hook. Reform of the House of Lords will deal with the cash for peerages issue, capping individual donations will deal with undue influence and well, if the political parties can’t raise the money themselves, well, they shouldn’t spend the money in the first place!!
Trying to be good
Posted in Environment on by
I am trying to be good, honest.
Although I am busy walking when I would have driven and even bought a bike this summer, I do still need a car and my lease on my little buzz box is up in a few months and I will need to replace it.
So, in order to put my money where my mouth is, I have decided that my next car will be the dull, dull but relatively clean Toyota Prius. If you are not fussed by cars then you'll not understand it, but I love cars. I love especially fast, sporty cars. Yes, if you're a man and you're driving a Porsche (preferably Carrera) then I may well find you more attractive than if you're not driving one. I wait with impatience for the day they bring out the environmentally friendly Mercedes SLK, as that's what I'd like to be going to order if it wasn't so smelly. A metallic oyster beige one, with cream leather seats, just in case you are wondering - not that I've thought about it much!!
Anyway, until they bring out the SLKe for environmental, I am doing what everybody who can afford it should be and reducing the CO2 emissions of those journeys that I will still make by car.
If Toyota are prepared to sell me a one, that is.
I booked via the internet a test drive for this morning. Turned up on time, introduced myself so that they would know that I was there and sat down. After a 20 minute wait I went up and reminded them I'd made an appointment and had been waiting 20 minutes. In fact, I had to say this twice to get the young man (oh goodness, I must be getting old) to actually apologise for asking me to wait for the only man of the four in the showroom who seemed to be able to sell a customer a car.
After 30 minutes, the man who was meant to be showing me the car and taking me for a test drive finally made his way up to me; I asked him if he had been expecting me (which he had been) and then thanked him for wasting an hour of my time (if you include time to get to the showroom) and told him how I was now going to buy my Toyota from someone else!
Very satisfying!
Anyway, my flounce seemed to have done the trick as the boss man from Bromley Toyota has been leaving apologetic messages on my phone.
This has been a useful learning experience for me; I think if I had done the same with the men in my life (especially the Porsche driving ones) then I may have got them leaving apologetic messages on my phone as well and who knows where I'd be now!
p.s. I love fast, sporty cars....I hate, hate, hate SUVs!!
Although I am busy walking when I would have driven and even bought a bike this summer, I do still need a car and my lease on my little buzz box is up in a few months and I will need to replace it.
So, in order to put my money where my mouth is, I have decided that my next car will be the dull, dull but relatively clean Toyota Prius. If you are not fussed by cars then you'll not understand it, but I love cars. I love especially fast, sporty cars. Yes, if you're a man and you're driving a Porsche (preferably Carrera) then I may well find you more attractive than if you're not driving one. I wait with impatience for the day they bring out the environmentally friendly Mercedes SLK, as that's what I'd like to be going to order if it wasn't so smelly. A metallic oyster beige one, with cream leather seats, just in case you are wondering - not that I've thought about it much!!
Anyway, until they bring out the SLKe for environmental, I am doing what everybody who can afford it should be and reducing the CO2 emissions of those journeys that I will still make by car.
If Toyota are prepared to sell me a one, that is.
I booked via the internet a test drive for this morning. Turned up on time, introduced myself so that they would know that I was there and sat down. After a 20 minute wait I went up and reminded them I'd made an appointment and had been waiting 20 minutes. In fact, I had to say this twice to get the young man (oh goodness, I must be getting old) to actually apologise for asking me to wait for the only man of the four in the showroom who seemed to be able to sell a customer a car.
After 30 minutes, the man who was meant to be showing me the car and taking me for a test drive finally made his way up to me; I asked him if he had been expecting me (which he had been) and then thanked him for wasting an hour of my time (if you include time to get to the showroom) and told him how I was now going to buy my Toyota from someone else!
Very satisfying!
Anyway, my flounce seemed to have done the trick as the boss man from Bromley Toyota has been leaving apologetic messages on my phone.
This has been a useful learning experience for me; I think if I had done the same with the men in my life (especially the Porsche driving ones) then I may have got them leaving apologetic messages on my phone as well and who knows where I'd be now!
p.s. I love fast, sporty cars....I hate, hate, hate SUVs!!
I'm back!
Posted in Christmas, Environment on by
Not that I've been away all that much, a quick trip to the Isle of Wight to spend Christmas Day with my Mum and John (step-dad).
I have for many years now wondered why, despite being probably the easiest person in the world to buy presents for, as a cooking, reading, perfume wearing, chocolate eating female that Santa has been concentrating, in a very sensible and methodical manner, on building up my Wedgwood dinner service. Not that I really mind, as I love my Wedgwood dinner service and its original existence on my wedding list is actually the most forceful reminder to me that I was once actually married. But I've often wondered why Santa never saw fit to bring me say, a boxed set of The West Wing DVD,as just one example.
I am, after all possibly one of the easiest people in the world to buy presents for!
But it now seems a breakthrough has been made, Santa has noted that I am in fact a Lib Dem! Because what did Santa put in my stocking this year(amongst other things to be fair to the old man)? A low voltage, environmentally friendly light bulb!!!
Because of course, that is what you buy a woman who is easily the easiest person in the world to buy presents for, isn't it? A light bulb!
Am I sounding ungrateful? I'm not, honest...because they're not cheap and it is already in use as the light bulb in my study went this morning; I'm in the process, as is Ming I understand, of replacing horrid high voltage greedy light bulbs with the environmentally friendly ones as they run out.
I am cheered to be honest, because the message that we are the most environmentally aware of the main stream political parties is getting out there and even Santa know its true!
(Before anybody gets too cross with me, I did get some other really lovely presents from Santa, for which I'm really grateful but found a light bulb just one of the more surreal ones!)
I have for many years now wondered why, despite being probably the easiest person in the world to buy presents for, as a cooking, reading, perfume wearing, chocolate eating female that Santa has been concentrating, in a very sensible and methodical manner, on building up my Wedgwood dinner service. Not that I really mind, as I love my Wedgwood dinner service and its original existence on my wedding list is actually the most forceful reminder to me that I was once actually married. But I've often wondered why Santa never saw fit to bring me say, a boxed set of The West Wing DVD,as just one example.
I am, after all possibly one of the easiest people in the world to buy presents for!
But it now seems a breakthrough has been made, Santa has noted that I am in fact a Lib Dem! Because what did Santa put in my stocking this year(amongst other things to be fair to the old man)? A low voltage, environmentally friendly light bulb!!!
Because of course, that is what you buy a woman who is easily the easiest person in the world to buy presents for, isn't it? A light bulb!
Am I sounding ungrateful? I'm not, honest...because they're not cheap and it is already in use as the light bulb in my study went this morning; I'm in the process, as is Ming I understand, of replacing horrid high voltage greedy light bulbs with the environmentally friendly ones as they run out.
I am cheered to be honest, because the message that we are the most environmentally aware of the main stream political parties is getting out there and even Santa know its true!
(Before anybody gets too cross with me, I did get some other really lovely presents from Santa, for which I'm really grateful but found a light bulb just one of the more surreal ones!)
Just because I'm paranoid....
Posted in Civil Liberties, DNA Database on by
Well, yes, but just because I may be being paranoid, it doesn’t mean they’re not out to get us! There I was reading, on the suggestion of the Free Think Blog a perfectly innocent article on free will and neurology and then more came up against the implications of a DNA database that captures innocent people’s DNA.
From the Economist – on their article on neurology and free will.
“At the moment, the criminal law—in the West, at least—is based on the idea that the criminal exercised a choice: no choice, no criminal. The British government, though, is seeking to change the law in order to lock up people with personality disorders that are thought to make them likely to commit crimes, before any crime is committed.
Such disorders are serious pathologies. But the National DNA Database being built up by the British government (which includes material from many innocent people), would already allow the identification of those with milder predispositions to anger and violence. How soon before those people are subject to special surveillance? And if the state chose to carry out such surveillance, recognising that the people in question may pose particular risks merely because of their biology, it could hardly then argue that they were wholly responsible for any crime that they did go on to commit.”
I suppose I’m getting some comfort from the fact that I keep picking up references to the wider implications of this DNA database in the media and so hopefully, it might start to snowball into something, but am I the only person noticing how close we’re getting to Big Brother (and that’s the Orwellian version) here?
From the Economist – on their article on neurology and free will.
“At the moment, the criminal law—in the West, at least—is based on the idea that the criminal exercised a choice: no choice, no criminal. The British government, though, is seeking to change the law in order to lock up people with personality disorders that are thought to make them likely to commit crimes, before any crime is committed.
Such disorders are serious pathologies. But the National DNA Database being built up by the British government (which includes material from many innocent people), would already allow the identification of those with milder predispositions to anger and violence. How soon before those people are subject to special surveillance? And if the state chose to carry out such surveillance, recognising that the people in question may pose particular risks merely because of their biology, it could hardly then argue that they were wholly responsible for any crime that they did go on to commit.”
I suppose I’m getting some comfort from the fact that I keep picking up references to the wider implications of this DNA database in the media and so hopefully, it might start to snowball into something, but am I the only person noticing how close we’re getting to Big Brother (and that’s the Orwellian version) here?
You do have something to fear
Posted in Civil Liberties, DNA Database, Police on by
Two items in the news today have got me back up on my civil liberties soap box; one from the Today programme and one picked up from my reading of someone else’s discarded Metro on the Victoria Line but both about Government databases.
At 6.30am this morning there was concern around the fact that everybody’s medical records were going to be put on the national NHS Patients Records database for all health professionals to see and the only way you could have your personal information excluded from this process was to plead that you would suffer considerable ‘emotional distress’ – although whether that is more or less than the amount of emotional distress required to explain why you would have emotional distress, I don’t know. All getting a bit ‘yes, minister’ around here….
Or at least, if it was the slightest bit funny, it would.
The second is about the DNA database and the numbers of ‘innocent’ people on it. Having googled the whole subject, I have discovered (from Lynne Featherstone’s website) that not only are 25% of the people on the database innocent but that in London, 57% of the innocent people on the database are in fact non-white. A third of all the black population in England & Wales is already on the database.
These databases, at first thought, which might be the only one that most of us give them, might seem to be attempting a general good. After all a database is only recording fact, isn’t it? And after all, in both cases the innocent have nothing to fear do they?
But it’s not that simple – already we can see that the DNA database is becoming racially skewed, to mirror a racial skew in the police’s stop and search and questioning policy. It is also at risk of being used for research purposes to racially profile suspects DNA. If the DNA were being collected in a random fashion it would not be as potentially socially explosive.
Ok, as one contributor to the BBC message board put it today, so what if someone over the other side of the country can see I’ve got a problem with my leg or my kidneys? But what happens when a record gives an indication of a more socially loaded condition, such as alcoholism, what then? What if the concerns around security do come true, what then?
If information is power then we are giving more and more power to government employees and governments and fundamentally changing the relationship between the state and the citizen.
Yet, as Shami Chakrabarti points out time and again, this is something we are sleep walking into. Why do so many of my non political friends not care, or feel slightly uncomfortable about it but shrug and accept it? I think, mainly, because they don’t think it will ever happen to them. And just like they can’t imagine ever needing to flee their country and claim asylum or not being able to get a visa for anywhere in the world they may choose to visit; they can’t imagine getting on the wrong side of a database.
“First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me”
Martin Niemöller
I’ve probably rambled a bit and tried to get too many ideas into this blog and perhaps when I’ve been going for years I might be able to control my desire to get everything out at once. It is something gets me really exercised, as you can probably tell.
At 6.30am this morning there was concern around the fact that everybody’s medical records were going to be put on the national NHS Patients Records database for all health professionals to see and the only way you could have your personal information excluded from this process was to plead that you would suffer considerable ‘emotional distress’ – although whether that is more or less than the amount of emotional distress required to explain why you would have emotional distress, I don’t know. All getting a bit ‘yes, minister’ around here….
Or at least, if it was the slightest bit funny, it would.
The second is about the DNA database and the numbers of ‘innocent’ people on it. Having googled the whole subject, I have discovered (from Lynne Featherstone’s website) that not only are 25% of the people on the database innocent but that in London, 57% of the innocent people on the database are in fact non-white. A third of all the black population in England & Wales is already on the database.
These databases, at first thought, which might be the only one that most of us give them, might seem to be attempting a general good. After all a database is only recording fact, isn’t it? And after all, in both cases the innocent have nothing to fear do they?
But it’s not that simple – already we can see that the DNA database is becoming racially skewed, to mirror a racial skew in the police’s stop and search and questioning policy. It is also at risk of being used for research purposes to racially profile suspects DNA. If the DNA were being collected in a random fashion it would not be as potentially socially explosive.
Ok, as one contributor to the BBC message board put it today, so what if someone over the other side of the country can see I’ve got a problem with my leg or my kidneys? But what happens when a record gives an indication of a more socially loaded condition, such as alcoholism, what then? What if the concerns around security do come true, what then?
If information is power then we are giving more and more power to government employees and governments and fundamentally changing the relationship between the state and the citizen.
Yet, as Shami Chakrabarti points out time and again, this is something we are sleep walking into. Why do so many of my non political friends not care, or feel slightly uncomfortable about it but shrug and accept it? I think, mainly, because they don’t think it will ever happen to them. And just like they can’t imagine ever needing to flee their country and claim asylum or not being able to get a visa for anywhere in the world they may choose to visit; they can’t imagine getting on the wrong side of a database.
“First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me”
Martin Niemöller
I’ve probably rambled a bit and tried to get too many ideas into this blog and perhaps when I’ve been going for years I might be able to control my desire to get everything out at once. It is something gets me really exercised, as you can probably tell.
Sunday morning, as it should be....
Posted in Christmas, FUN, The Archers on by
As I write, the Archers omnibus has just started, I am sitting in the bay window of my living room watching all the birds in my garden and a very greedy Squirrel moving his treasure around the garden. I've just finished the most gloriously fattening breakfast of cinnamon eggy bread with greek yoghurt, banana and maple syrup! I've read theleft overs of yesterday's independent and all is well in the world - well, clearly all is not well in the world at large, but it's all very pleasant at the Garden Flat!
Yesterday, I nearly finished my Christmas cards - I wrote 70, having already posted about 60 and still have another 20 or so to do - well, they will have to go first class. It is a ridiculous number of Christmas Cards to send out but, I just love receiving them and therefore......
Anyhow, I have a reprieve from Christmas Card writing this morning as I have run out of them and instead have to make a start on Christmas present wrapping. Again, all just in time, as I am taking my 'friend/mentee' to the Science Museum this afternoon and this is the last time I will see him before Christmas. I was matched with Simon two years ago by a small charity working in Camden & Islington called Friends United Network, an excellent programme and whatever Simon has gained from our friendship, I'm sure that I have gained more!
I'm going to call him Simon in this blog, which is not his name, but it's not possible to go publicising a 15 year old's name on a public blog. We're going to see the space capsule as we caught the end of the Apollo movie last weekend, while decorating the Christmas Tree, and Simon didn't know you could see one in London. He is dead keen on Science, a thing that can only be encouraged!
Just one thing that jars about this morning. Last week, I caught sight of the adverts for Adam & Ian's wedding and they were using pictures of the actors!!! I wish they'd stop! It is playing havoc with the world of Ambridge that sits in my imagination! Outrageous!
Yesterday, I nearly finished my Christmas cards - I wrote 70, having already posted about 60 and still have another 20 or so to do - well, they will have to go first class. It is a ridiculous number of Christmas Cards to send out but, I just love receiving them and therefore......
Anyhow, I have a reprieve from Christmas Card writing this morning as I have run out of them and instead have to make a start on Christmas present wrapping. Again, all just in time, as I am taking my 'friend/mentee' to the Science Museum this afternoon and this is the last time I will see him before Christmas. I was matched with Simon two years ago by a small charity working in Camden & Islington called Friends United Network, an excellent programme and whatever Simon has gained from our friendship, I'm sure that I have gained more!
I'm going to call him Simon in this blog, which is not his name, but it's not possible to go publicising a 15 year old's name on a public blog. We're going to see the space capsule as we caught the end of the Apollo movie last weekend, while decorating the Christmas Tree, and Simon didn't know you could see one in London. He is dead keen on Science, a thing that can only be encouraged!
Just one thing that jars about this morning. Last week, I caught sight of the adverts for Adam & Ian's wedding and they were using pictures of the actors!!! I wish they'd stop! It is playing havoc with the world of Ambridge that sits in my imagination! Outrageous!
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