Communications Data Bill doesn’t go far enough

There’s been some great news for security in this country recently: the Conservatives have finally given up on their silly agreement to roll back state intrusion. Let’s hope Nick doesn’t succeed in blocking such crucial legislation but, if he does, it seems like the US could already be doing the surveillance for us!

The only problem is that this kind of blanket online monitoring just doesn’t go far enough. With the public in fear of the ever present threat of terrorism, we need to collecting metadata about all forms of communication, from the postal system, to peoples front rooms:

• We shouldn’t expect to just put a letter in the post without any form of tracking. All post should be taken to post offices, along with photo ID, so that sender and recipient can be properly logged.
• Oyster can already keep track of public transport journeys in London and needs to be extended across the country as a matter of urgency.
• Every journey by road also needs to be logged. Submitting a route plan should be required in advance of each journey, with automatic number plate recognition verifying the actual route taken.
• And finally, to cover the last mile of any journey, as well as pedestrians and cyclists, it should be compulsory for every citizen to carry a smart phone and use a UK government 4wrnd app. This will enable location and proximity to other citizens to be tracked in real time.

Terrahawks need to push ahead with these measures and more, before it’s too late.

Admittedly this new surveillance will undoubtedly cost a lot of money, which could impact other methods of protecting citizens. What some people have conveniently overlooked is that, once collected, the new data will be a valuable source of revenue. If mobile phone companies can sell data, there’s no reason for the government not to do the same. From insurance companies and worried parents, to foreign governments, people will be queuing up to access this valuable new big data resource.

Photo © walkingwalking (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Blast shield

I knew there was poo in my future, but I was clearly still unprepared- the recently decorated nursery already needs a new coat of paint! (Luckily the carpet cleaned up ok.) If I’d known we’d have an explosive/projectile baby, I’d have made the nursery a wet room instead… or decorated our bedroom and left the nursery alone completely!! Too late now though. Amazingly there seems to be a gap in the market for a changing mat that’s up to the job but after a bit of investigation we now have a blast shield to try and avoid future incidents…

This is the cheap and dirty solution (excuse the pun!) after originally contemplating building something more substantial out of polycarbonate. Not sure why I thought I’d have time to do that! Luckily we’d already been given an extra changing mat, otherwise some temporary cardboard engineering would have been required. By happy coincidence the new shield balances just nicely against the nursery door now that I’ve moved the changing table to conceal the last unguarded bottom event.

As yet untested, but nappy changing is once again mostly stress free. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

Waiting for deliveries

Luckily the carpet arrived before the occupant:

No more decorating for a while. Woo hoo! (But probably no more sleep for a while soon either. Boo hoo!)

My first social media policy

Despite seriously considering deleting my Facebook profile in the past, I haven’t managed it, yet. The downsides are still just about outweighed by the way I use Facebook, i.e. very little. That’s my choice though and after a conversation in the canteen recently, I started wondering whether it was right to effectively start building up a social media profile for someone before they’ve even been born!

Despite Google’s unhelpful profile name policy, Eric Schmidt apparently commented that young people may need to disassociate themselves from a trail of embarrassment online by changing their names. I can see his point, but wouldn’t it be worse if your dad had created a Facebook profile for you?! You’d need to change your name at least twice!

So, given it’s not possible to control information on Facebook, we’ve decided to try and avoid putting anything there on behalf of the bump. Not that we’re picking on Facebook- we’ll be avoiding posting anything on the other social networking sites too. This is a bit of an experiment at the moment, along with the whole (very wide) parental minefield, so the bump’s social media policy may evolve over time. For a start it needs a better codename!

We do still want to annoy at least a few people with news and photos when bump’s big day finally arrives though, so we’ll be sending out announcements via ‘old fashioned’ electronic mail and Short Message Service. (And there will definitely not be any live blogging!)

After and before

Despite the distractions of an impending baby, we’ve also been making a bit of progress on the house lately. Most of the major work is done (I hope!) so it should just be decorating from now on.

The war on leaks is going well and after ripping out the old toilet last year, the new cloakroom is almost done:

An even bigger milestone was finally finishing the front bedroom. I don’t think we have a before shot for this room because it was just too horrible!

From start to finish it took about 14 months to complete! That was partly due to getting other rooms done at the same time, but there were a few minor complications along the way: the floor needed a bit of work, someone stole part of the wall and, just when all that was fixed, even more holes were required to install a cable for the new boiler! I do hope we don’t need any extra holes now the carpet is down!

I guess it’s probably time to get cracking on the nursery…

The old carpet has gone already and, fortunately, it looks like the floor is mostly ok! Which is lucky really: we don’t have 14 months to finish this room! Maybe not even 14 days!

Eastleigh by-election: National Health Action

Unfortunately I only just discovered that outlook.com had decided this reply was junk- maybe it’s a little early for Microsoft to be launching it officially just yet! Ok, so the election was last week, where Iain got 392 votes, but I think it’s still worth posting for completeness.

> 1. What are your views on equal rights, for example do you support the introduction of gay marriage?

I’m not opposed to same sex marriage (covered in my earlier email)
[Q. What are you doing to support equal marriage? A. Nothing active. I think we need to maintain our focus on the economy and the threat of privatisation of the NHS at the moment. I'm not saying it's not an important issue; but we have to prioritise things somehow. Personally I support equal marriage.]

> 2. I am very concerned about the introduction of secret courts as part of the Justice and Security Bill. Would you oppose the introduction of secret courts?

Yes – I too feel the very fact that this is being considered is very worrying in a supposedly free society.

> 3. In my view MPs have a poor track record on technology issues, for example the ill-considered Digital Economy Act, which my last MP was unwilling to discuss. What are your views on repeated attempts to introduce a snoopers charter?

As with 2 – this is an extremely regressive step and will simply escalate the fear and mistrust that threat to break up the essential cohesiveness that binds society together.

> 4. Do you agree that it would be easier to reduce dishonest and corrupt business practices if there was more transparency in company relationships and ownership? How would you tackle this issue? For example, would you back legislation to crack down on non-trading companies?

More transparency and accountability in everything. Commercial confidentiality clauses are one the things that cause markets in health care to fail at the expense of quality and safety in patient care.

> 5. Can you promise to fight to protect NHS services both nationally and at our local hospitals?

Yes – covered in my previous email.

[Q. Would you support new legislation to reverse the harm of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, and stopping the privatisation of the NHS services? A. Yes - absolutely. This is the primary aim of my election campaign. Q. Can you promise to fight to protect services at our local hospitals? A. Yes - I promise to protect services at local hospitals and community and mental health services. The only situation where I would support closure of local health services would be if the services concerned were no longer being run to adequate standards of safety or quality. But in such circumstances health commissioners would need to ensure that replacement services of satisfactory quality were available at a location or locations that are convenient and accessible for the whole population of Eastleigh borough.]

> 6. Would you support any changes to the current laws on abortion and, if so, what changes would you like to see introduced?

This is a very divisive issue, over which, if required to vote on in Parliament, I would consult closely with my constituents. Personally I don’t see any pressing need to change the current abortion law.

> 7. What role do you think an MP has in local issues? What will you be able to do to help resolve issues like planning that other locally elected representatives are not able to do?

I believe that, as an MP not subject to a party whip, I would be a more effective voice for local people on local issues.

> 8. What measures would you take to promote green technology and to prevent climate change?

Covered in my previous email.

[Sustainable development funding to be made available to 'green' businesses and projects.
Better access to bank loans for local, small businesses.
Promote active travel, especially encouraging safe cycling and walking.
Reduce the costs of public transport.
Promote policies where the general principle is 'the polluter pays'. This will preserve individuals' choices, but it will ensure that one person's choice to live a high carbon lifestyle doesn't restrict another person's choice to live a more sustainable lifestyle. It will also avoid the situation where the costs of people's unsustainable lifestyle choices are borne by the environment and thus paid for by future generations.]

> 9. Do you have a by-election manifesto where I could find out more about issues that are important to you?

No. The NHAP is a very new party (created Nov 2012), so we don’t have a detailed manifesto yet. Please see our website http://www.nationalhealthaction.org.uk/ for the general thrust of our existing policies.

> 10. Do you intend to stand in future Eastleigh parliamentary elections?

This is for the Executive Committee of NHAP to decide. I probably would if asked.

> Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Please let me know if you would prefer me not to publish your responses on my weblog.

I don’t mind you publishing my responses.

Hopefully Iain will be back again in 2015!

Eastleigh by-election: English Democrats

A late entry from the English Democrats in case anyone is still trying to decide. (Are the polls still open?!)

James Thank you for some sensible questions at last.

1. I am proposing that as the current bill was voted for with only 150 M.P.’s voting against it and as it declares that the Church of England and other Churches are exempt from performing gay marriages, this means that many of the Gay Lebian and Bisexual community think they can have a church wedding but no church other than the Quakers will allow it. I therefore suggest Government funding for Bishop Jonathan Blakes Open Episcopal Church to operate from various currently empty or derelict church buildings to specifically fill this need and bring peace to the whole debate.

2. My ex wife who I am recently divorced from is a Black Afro Caribbean High Court officer in the Childrens and Family Courts service. These are existing secret courts 10,00 British children are taken into care by the state in these secret courts . Extending the use of secret courts brings us closer to a Police State and I oppose it.

3. The internet should be free and remain so. It undermines the authorities which is why they want to do this under the pretence of British Homeland Security, only where there is a serious recognisable threat to national security should it be employed.

4. Yes and offshore bank accounts , I used to be an Independent Financial Adviser I left financial services in 1998 of my own free will to pursue a more honest living. I know where and how to root out tax dodges.

5. I had my first hospital stay in October having a titanium plate and screws keeping my right hand attached to the rest of me I am on record as saying I will fight against NHS privatisation.

6. Abortion I am concerned we may be killing our young and would support a reduction in the number of weeks allowed before abortion is allowed.

7. Planning and the localism bill make a mockery of protecting green field sites I would do whatever I can to protect green field spaces but it is really the local authorities decision not the M.P.’s .

8. Solar panels like the one on our Church as featured on my Facebook page Michael Walters English Democrat for Eastleigh, to be installed on all public buildings. I am anti Fraking and very concerned about the proposed Nuclear Waste Dump being proposed at Romney Marsh just up the coast.

9.See Facebook page.

10. Not likely James my job here is to promote my party so that someone more local and hopefully cleverer than me joins and stands instead how about you James ?

Publish way no probs.

Best Wishes

Mike Walters

So the final tally was seven replies, or half the candidates, which is far more than I was expecting in the time available.