civil service

by 2 comments on "If I were you I’d do X. But obviously I don’t feel responsible for the consequences"

I just got an e-mail from my MP, Lynne Featherstone, regarding publishing the NHS Risk Register. Here’s the important bit. Risk registers are used by government departments and more generally by private companies to plan for worst-case scenarios. They range on everything from flu epidemics to terrorist attacks. As you can imagine, publishing these documents…

Read More If I were you I’d do X. But obviously I don’t feel responsible for the consequences
by 1 comment on "i haz bin in yr AR standardz, facilitatin yr interop. kthx!"

So I had the opportunity to take part in an Augmented Reality standardisation meeting on the fringe of this year’s 3GSM Mobile World Congress. First of all, it was the year the heavens opened (someone on twitter said it was as if the show had turned into Glastonbury) and I got drenched and my shoes…

Read More i haz bin in yr AR standardz, facilitatin yr interop. kthx!
by 1 comment on "so you want to know who’s lobbying?"

So I was moaning about the Government and the release of lists of meetings with external organisations. Well, what about some action? I’ve written a scraper that aggregates all the existing data and sticks it in a sinister database. At the moment, the Cabinet Office, DEFRA, and the Scottish Office have coughed up the files…

Read More so you want to know who’s lobbying?
by 0 comments on "Meetings"

Mark Ballard of Computer Weekly is trying to get the details of government meetings with the IT industry, and struggling. Among other things, this seems to be yet another use case for an enduring Freedom of Information Act request. It’s also one of the reasons why I like the idea of a central contacts register.…

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by 4 comments on "Moving swiftly on"

Well, that was grim, wasn’t it? I refer, of course, to the new government. Having read through the coalition agreement, I’m almost convinced by Charlie and Jamie‘s argument that it’s really not that bad. Almost. I’m not particularly worried by the supposed 55% thing either, for reasons well explained here – it’s fairly obviously an…

Read More Moving swiftly on
by 0 comments on "someone’s got it in for us, they’re planting stories in the press"

Bob Dylan lyric too appropriate not to use yet again. Who is trying to frighten MySociety.org users? It begins with a Daily Telegraph story that a clerk, Lisa Greenwood, in the Department for Children, Schools and Families was sacked for posting a comment about Hazel Blears on theyworkforyou. Unfortunately, no comment including the text quoted…

Read More someone’s got it in for us, they’re planting stories in the press