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
Daniel Cox, one of the Councillors who took part in the original Norfolk LifeSwap event was recently elected as Leader of Norfolk County Council at the age of 36. According to our sources this makes him the youngest Leader of a County Council in the UK. Congratulations to him.
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
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
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
I recently produced some spreadsheets for an elderly relative to see how long they could afford a care home before having to sell the house they have lived in for 30 years. I was horrified by how quickly the money goes. Care is not cheap. A good client from one Read more
The Great Turtle Race is a fabulous site highlighting conservation efforts with Leatherback Turtles in the Pacific. I love the way that what could be a dry boring site about marine animals is turned into an exciting race (well, hopefully it will be exciting by Day 14). The Wildfowl and Read more
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
Sam Smith of Disruptive Proactivity, mySociety and other projects has launched a new site this week that provides a comparison of what the UN, the WhiteHouse and No. 10 say on any particular subject. A fine example of how official information is being chopped up and re-presented in ways that Read more
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