An online notebook
A quick repost of an important message on the MySociety blog: Uh oh. Ministers are about to conceal MPs’ expenses, even though the public hasjust paid £1m to get them all ready for publication, and even though the tax man expects citizens to do what MPs don’t have to. They buried the news on the … Keep reading
Oliver Kamm in The Guardian: In its paucity of coverage and predictability of conclusions, the blogosphere provides a parody of democratic deliberation. But it gets worse. Politics, wrote the philosopher Michael Oakeshott, is a conversation, not an argument. The conversation bloggers have with their readers is more like an echo chamber, in which conclusions are … Keep reading
Great article from David Wilcox: Does it matter whether politicians who talk up the Internet’s potential for re-inventing politics, education, employment actually use it hands-on for the purposes they present, and join in? Or should we just be grateful if they have a good script from their researchers, have met the right people, and can … Keep reading
The BBC points out a new site the Liberal Democrats have set up to discuss their manifesto for the next election. MP Steve Webb, running the web-based project, said it would help frame “detailed policy”, but that the party would retain its core principles. Subjects discussed so far include whether to scrap short prison sentences … Keep reading
Quite interesting chat between Stephen Fry and Tony Blair here.