One thing the Republic’s government could usefully do is to find some way of investing in a MySociety franchise. The advantages of a Theyworkforyou.com over the currently, very clunky Oireachtas debate sites are obvious. And they’ve now launched a Whatdotheyknow site for collating FOI requests in a manageable, searchible format. It’s still in prototype, but they want you to look and it and use and feedback to them on how to make it better.
What was life like for children of political activists during the Troubles? A new book by Bill Rolston and published by Guildhall Press during the summer has collected together the stories of twenty Children of the Revolution whose parents’ activities – and in many cases, imprisonment – had a significant affect on childhoods and life [...] read our review »
A moment of some significance in journalism perhaps, as the New York Times reviews the current talked about book, The Wrong War: Grit, Strategy, and the Way Out of Afghanistan by Bing West. The author is no bleeding heart but a former assistant Defense Secretary from the Reagan era who stomped his way round the Afghan [...] read our review »
Here’s a great review of a fascinating book (H/T reader Rory) on how the Internet is destroying our capacity for intelligent, focused and critical thought. It opens thus: …here is the news that Ulin brings in this slim, meandering book: that reading is “an act of contemplation”; that such an act becomes more difficult in [...] read our review »
That would be something good, in relation to immigration fraud, we’re still waiting for sensible responses to PQs dating to 2002,
in fact I think I could have met half the cabinet without switching from the one portfolio, such is the nature of blame free Britain.
That’s really useful.
G.
there was similar site that scrapped speaking and voitng and expenses records etc of tds called ratemytd.com but it was never finished…
im dying for somebody to pick up the mysociety franchise for ireland, its opensource somebody go for it.
I just tried that with a FOI and spotted another (via a Guardian journalist) related to our stuff, so that saved me a bit of work.
One can chide at it, but at one point I was spending 10K per month just paying people to keep track of LEA responses & etc.
I have no idea how the families of the missing, collusion etc. were able to fund their campaigns.
When people are being non-responsive it really is so consuming of time and funds.
I just done a gender appropriate assignment FOI to test it out. CCTV monitoring in girls toilets.
That is the sort of thing that doesn’t get a response and has to be chased up with lawyers etc.
I’m really quite delighted with the idea of it.
The theyworkforyou one is good for Peers, because, they’re not flush with staff, and I can’t expect them to track me down.
So one can check up on PQs etc.
Lord Laird will usually invite me up to his office, but the others, they’re not often in the conference facility kind of style.
I’m sort of hoping the FOI thing takes off.
G.