November 21, 2007 RJH
Virtually every family in Britain, rich and poor, receives a monthly “Child Benefit” payment from the government. I have 3 children and receive about $300. To administer the programme, the government keeps a database of our names (parents and children), dates of birth, national insurance numbers, and bank account details (if they pay by direct deposit).
The UK is currently reeling from an absolute shocker: one government department burned all of these details to disk, password protected them but did not encrypt them, and sent them to another department.
The disks never arrived. No-one knows where they are. Potentially, the names of 25 million Britons — and their most important details — are in the hands of criminals.
This debacle is an absolute gift to those who do not believe we can trust the government with private data. The government claims that the mistake was one of a junior civil servant failing to follow procedure rather than systemic policy malfunction. But here’s the thing: the government has put itself into a position where reams of electronic data are frighteningly easy to access. As was pointed out on Newsnight, it’s one thing that your medical records are only available at the local doctor’s surgery, but what do we make of a system where all records have been centralised and a doctor’s computer in Birmingham or Bradford can access everyone’s data nationwide?
I think the Conservatives are right: no national databases, no ID cards.
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November 16, 2007 RJH
The EU has its benefits, most notably that I could live in Austria with a minimal degree of hassle. For that alone, Brussels be praised.
UK foreign secretary, David Miliband, has recently catalogued some of the EU’s failures, notably its utter inability to respond to crisis via military intervention.
“European member states must improve their capabilities. It’s embarrassing that when European nations - with almost two million men and women under arms - are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100 thousand at any one time.
EU countries have around 1,200 transport helicopters, yet only about 35 are deployed in Afghanistan. And EU member states haven’t provided any helicopters in Darfur despite the desperate need there.”
What does this mean? Note Miliband doesn’t say the EU “must improve its capabilities.” Instead, responsibility falls on the member states. Considering Britain’s adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, I suspect he has other member states than his own in mind. If the creation of a centrally-controlled European army is not on the table (thank goodness), what role should the EU play in encouraging “member states [to] improve their capabilities”? Because unless Europe can step up to the plate, it continues to cede de facto control of world policing to the United States, and as we all like to remind ourselves, the US is merd at that.
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November 14, 2007 Peter
This Friday at 9pm CET (Coordinated Universal Time +1) England faces off against Austria in Vienna in a friendly just days before their final UEFA European Football Championship qualifier against Croatia back at Wembley on the 21st.
Apparently in a bid to save the good guys for the game against Croatia, Coach McClaren is sending his B Team to Austria.
With Owen Hargreaves and Wayne Rooney out and only 4,600 English fans expected in (and bringing their own police escort), could Austria have a chance at redeeming its dismal record?
What’s your pick?
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November 14, 2007 RJH
I have my doubts that Gordon Brown’s America policy will differ substantively from Tony Blair’s. A recent speech by Brown at the Lord Mayor’s banquet has attracted much commentary, notably for its apparent break with Blair’s terror obsession.
The Guardian notes that, “Mr Brown mentioned Iraq only briefly and in passing. He said nothing about Islam or 9/11 at all.” Instead, he outlined his belief that global challenges must be tackled by global institutions, code, perhaps, for a less America-centric, unilateral world.
Despite the public distancing (contrast this with Merkel and Sarkozy’s recent cosying up to Uncle Sam), Stephen Pollard believes that there will be no major difference in Britain’s foreign policy under Brown. Brown’s rhetoric is simply intended to appease domestic anti-Bushism and show he ain’t Tony.
The trouble for Gordon is that Blair was so much more interesting.
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October 9, 2007 RJH
I will admit to being a sucker for any building that sports a portrait of HM the Queen in the foyer. Rhodes House in Oxford is one such building, and much more.
Part of the joy of living in Oxford is that you can chase obscure books in various faculty and college libraries. (Just ordering it from the Bod stacks is boring.) Yesterday I needed a book on slavery, and Rhodes House had a copy. So in I went, past the Queen, past the grand ceiling memorial to Rhodes men who died in the wars, past the various imperial antiques that decorate the polished floor, past the portraits of various dark-skinned Rhodes Scholars (just to prove Cecil Rhodes’ heirs have shared the lottery winnings beyond the white Englishman), and through to the library.
Any of you Yanks who fancy some time in Oxford should go for a Rhodes. Failing that, just come to Oxford. It’s a singular place.
8 comments »
October 9, 2007 Peter
If you don’t want the latest generation of nuclear reactors in your backyard (or the French to build them), then lodge your protest by tomorrow! It’s not just the Golden Anniversary of Britain’s biggest nuclear disaster, but also the end of public consultation on the more or less inevitable future of Britain’s nuclear program.
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October 6, 2007 RJH
On the whole, I find the British political system far healthier than its American counterpart. I loathe the fact that the partisan US president is also Head of State and Commander-in-Chief; I find the staid deference of Congress stultifying and uninspiring; I think the programmatic four-year term, and its attendant lame-duck lameness, is an exercise in elected dictatorship; and I find US TV journalism to be lazy overseers of this lazy system.
But the power of a British prime minister to call an election at his whim — when he thinks he can win it — is madness. In Britain we currently have the farcical situation where newly-minted Labour leader (and thus Prime Minister) Gordon “I’m from Scotland where Westminster has little power” Brown spun a November election when the polls were looking good, and backed out when faced with a resurgent Tory party. Pathetic.
This is not a government of which I am a big fan. I note the Clunking Fist is now also playing the terrorism card, telling the BBC that Labour is best able to fight the war on terror.
Get lost, Brown.
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October 2, 2007 RJH
In March I wrote about the beefed-up security surrounding the US embassy in Vienna. Seems like they need it, although there may not have been much they could have done had the bag detonated.
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October 1, 2007 RJH
Given an advantageous alignment of the stars, you could mentally solve all of life’s problems if you spent enough time at the dentist. Lying there under the light, I tend to feel perilously vulnerable yet strangely amniotic, thinking all manner of profound thoughts as the dentist drills, the nurse uses her vacuum-thingy, and the radio announces the traffic report for the M5 at Worcester.
Here’s what I realised during a filling last week (naughty RJH does not floss properly):
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9 comments »
September 28, 2007 Peter
Everyone knows that scoring sweet jobs is all about linking up with the right people at the right time, right? Well, let the sad story below be a lesson to us all–sometimes there are situations where even Facebook can’t help.
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