Richard's Kingdom

I attended the local-groups session at ORGCon last weekend. I made a few notes. Then I set up a local ORG group in Sheffield. We’re holding our first meeting on Monday (and if you’re able to you should come!) If I can do this in a week you can do it in your area too. [...]

Over the last two parliaments the British state has grown ever more authoritarian. Personal liberty has been sacrificed on the altar of public opinion for political ends. The false dichotomy of privacy versus security has been used repeatedly to justify robbing us of the former while failing to deliver the latter. Billions of pounds have [...]

The Digital Economy Act 2010 is now law. Last week thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, watched the tragedy unfold on Twitter and via the live stream from Parliament (starts at 20:51:25). Many of those people were seeing the internal mechanisms of the British political system for the first time. Their reaction was almost universally one [...]

Despite massive public opposition the Digital Economy Bill was voted into law last night. Here’s how Sheffield MPs behaved: Constituency MP Party At 2nd reading? At 3rd reading? How they voted Attercliffe Clive Betts Labour No No FOR the Bill Brightside David Blunkett Labour No No ABSENT Central Richard Caborn Labour No No FOR the [...]

There is an issue about which I care passionately. It doesn’t matter what it is (though if you read the rest of this blog you might be able to guess). In the last six months I have written to retiring MP Richard Caborn half a dozen times urging him to act. I have called his [...]