Democracy
Brexit for lawyers
Extracts from my latest post in Internet Newsletter for Lawyers about the legal and constitutional issues surrounding Brexit: As opinions on this change by the hour, your best bet is to follow the latest comments on Twitter from those lawyers who are focussing on the constitutional implications of the Brexit vote and thence read their […]
They’re working for us (dot org)
The folks at mySociety are really moving on Society 2.0. mySociety is a charity which builds natty Web 2.0 sites that give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. It also aims to teach the public and voluntary sectors, through demonstration, how to most efficiently use the internet to […]
Corruption 2.0
I’ve signed up for the SCL Lecture 2008 in which Prof Larry Lessig will consider “Corruption 2.0 – the destructive effect of money within politics, and the role technology might play in counterbalancing it.” An unofficial site Draft Lessig was recently set up by a group involved in the Free Culture movement who think that […]
Beefy and Lamby anyone?
Comment on the Government’s proposals to close 550 plus government websites has provoked a range of comment from “about time too” to “a bit of a sick joke“, with numerous geeks chipping in that this is all unnecessary because [Web 2.0 reason here]. One needs to dig a little deeper than the government press release […]
Politics in depth
The choice for detailed coverage of political debate and legislative progress is now between … ePolitix – which aims to improve communication between elected representatives and the public. News – provides up-to-the-minute politics and parliamentary news covering events at Westminster, the Scottish Parliament, European Parliament and the assemblies in Northern Ireland, Wales and London via […]
Holding your MP to account
Three sites that help you the citizen make sense of what your elected representatives are doing and hold them to account (in their own words): TheyWorkForYou.comEverything MPs say in the House of Commons is recorded in a document called Hansard. TheyWorkForYou.com helps make sense of this vital democratic resource while allowing you to add comments […]
Parliament site sucks II
The start of the new Parliamentary session is a reminder just how awkward it is to monitor the progress of bills on the Parliament site. The Bills before parliament page summarises the position thus: Public Bills before ParliamentThe page lists the titles of Public Bills currently before Parliament as well as Amendments to the Bill […]
New Scottish Parliament sites – clicks and mortar
The Scottish Parliament launched its new improved website on 6 September prior to the opening of the new Parliament buildings. Amongst the new features are: MSP biographical pages which include individual interviews with Members filmed in the new building during the summer. A dedicated page for each committee with up-to-date information on consultations and links […]
Parliament site sucks say users
The UK Parliament’s website needs a radical overhaul as there is widespread dissatisfaction among users, a select committee of MPs said on 16 June 2004. While the site has received praise as an example of open and accessible government, the committee found that people often had difficulty finding the answers even to simple questions: the […]
Parliament: Breathing new life into Hansard
A new website that allows voters to search and annotate the text of parliamentary debates has been launched by a team of volunteer programmers. TheyWorkForYou.com is the fruit of nine months’ work by a loose group of e-democracy activists whose aim is to breathe new life into Hansard. It does this by “scraping” the content […]
