MPs and the Freedom of Information Act – Part II

David MacLean’s damaging Private Member’s Bill was due to debated again this morning, but somehow yesterday it was dropped off the agenda and postponed until May 18th. It isn’t clear why it has been dropped.  The Deputy Speaker said only the Sponsor of a bill can withdraw it.  I’m guessing Read more…

MPs and the Freedom of Information Act

Parliament (at least the 25 MPs those that are there on a Friday – only 25 are visible on Parliament TV) is currently debating the Private Members Bill brought by David MacLean (Con). The bill looks to amend the Freedom of Information Act to allow MPs to exclude themselves from Read more…

All change at Teesdale?

Not all councils suffer the same problems.  Up and down the country the political parties are battling with each other over the candidates they are fielding. But in Teesdale (pop. 24,457) they have a different problem. Out of 32 seats up for election only 7 are being contested.  Even then Read more…

School students making the news

I saw an old friend at the weekend and got very excited when I heard about her new job. I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to this absolutely brilliant project by the BBC. It’s called School Report, and Year 8 students (12/13 year olds) got the chance to make their Read more…

Elections 2007, a few sites

As we all know, there are a slew of elections this May: Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, all Local Authorities in Scotland and some in England. As the internet continues to take over the world, there’s more and more of an e-democracy angle with each election. Here’s one or two sites Read more…

Money and Politics: Illuminating the connection (in CA at least)

MAPLight.org illuminates the connection between money and politics. We shine a light on campaign contributions and show their related legislative outcomes, which leads to a more informed public and election reform. This site uses a rich (please excuse the pun) database of campaign contributions and voting records in the California Read more…

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