Finding out about something alarming late in the day is always disturbing, and I always knew that the Labour government’s attitudes towards data privacy were at best antique, but reading about the Connexions scheme on the excellent ARCH website this afternoon was a wake-up call.
In an attempt to get “disadvantaged” children into work, the government is sending “personal advisors” with less than a month’s training into schools to ask 13-16 year-olds questions regarding their employment chances. Kids can request an interview, or can be referred (not entirely clear how they are referred, but there you go). The advisor asks a raft of questions, which include stuff like:
life skills
emotional development
“inappropriate” friendships with kids of other ages
the parenting capacities of the kids’ carers
any difficulties with siblings
This stuff is then stored on a DB and can be shared with “other agencies”, including private contractors, if the child gives their consent. But this consent can be given without reference to the child’s carers. And it’s stored until they’re well into their twenties.
Jaw-dropping, isn’t it? And if you really want a groan-tinged laugh, read the correspondence between ARCH and the woman at the DFES responsible for Connexions. ARCH send them a long, articulate, letter, and what do they get in return? A short letter responding to one point of detail, and none of the points of substance.
I only found out about DAB TV from a colleague today, but it sounds fascinating. I’ve become increasingly obsessed with “packet-based video” for want of a better term (and that’s certainly better than the discredited and disreputable “video on demand”). The idea of using the 20% of the DAB signal that isn’t used for audio to download fragments of video seems fascinating - and, as IT Week point out here, this could be a service specifically tailored for devices on the move. Is anyone else other than NTL trialling it, I wonder?
Rory McCarthy of the Guardian, who’s an excellent foreign correspondent in every way, has tracked down the “Baghdad Blogger”, Salam Pax, a “29 year old architect who lived in Vienna” (surely this identifies him pretty precisely?) and got him to write for the Guardian every fortnight. Excellent!
Everyone should read the new proposed European Union constitution. Skip the legalese bits, and enjoy the aspirations and uniqueness of the document.
The first time terrorism is referred to in a constitution? “Article I-42: “The Union and its Member States shall act jointly in a spirit of solidarity if a Member State is the victim of terrorist attack or natural or man-made disaster.”
The beauty of our values: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights. These values are common to the Member States in a society of pluralism, tolerance, justice, equality, solidarity and non-discrimination.” Of course, the French ignore this stuff all the time, but they know how to say it.
The ambition of our objectives: “to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples….a Europe of sustainable development based on balanced economic growth, with a social market economy aiming at full employment and social progress….a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment…..promote scientific and technological advance…………combat social exclusion….promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, solidarity between generations and protection of children’s rights….respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity…………..contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the earth, solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and protection of human rights and in particular children’s rights, as well as to strict observance and development of international law, including respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter.
The willingness to set quotas: “Each Member State shall submit a list of three persons, of whom at least one must be a woman, whom it considers qualified to be a European Commissioner.”
There’s a whole lot more in there. People should read it. Don’t let the
lying toe-rags of the bulk of the British press lead you up the garden path on this one.
Is it me, or is there a new spirit in the land of progressive political thinking? There seem to be a growing number of progressive commentators who are looking at the world, and asking themselves some difficult questions about what actually makes people tick. There’s Christopher Hitchens waving the flag for a war on Islamism (in the true sense of the word, ie a militant belief in the sickening bin Ladenesque distortions of the true Koran) - and shouting “Don’t. Be. Silly” at friends like Martin Amis. Hitchens, a man whose ego demands to be heard, sees himself as following in the steps of his great hero, George Orwell, a “nonconformist who resolutely faced up to unpleasant truths”. Forget the ego; feel the width.
There’s David Aaronovitch quite rightly
attacking the latent anti-Semitism of left-wing attacks on Israel. There’s Rod Liddle arguing that
the misery in Ethiopia is largely down to two decades of appalling misrule by Ethiopean governments: “You can’t blame Tony Blair or George Bush or the IMF or the World Bank. You can’t blame those evil multinationals such as Nestle which, unforgivably, asked the Ethiopean government for money that it was rightly owed. You can’t really blame the sun for continuing to burn down on the horn of Africa: it has always done that.”
I suppose someone somewhere has christened this new left-of-centre realism, but let’s call it “progressive realpolitik” for now. It’s quiet, it’s considered, it’s agonising over a new consensus which sees the world as quite a horrible place with horrible people who just might have to be treated horribly. It’s very interesting. Maybe Blair is on to something.
This seems like a brilliant idea - a scientific cafe society, where people can meet, hear a short lecture from a REAL SCIENTIST (gasp!)and then talk about it. Of course, there isn’t one south of the river, and there should be, but I’ll check out the one at the ICA and who knows? Maybe I’ll set one up in Herne Hill, baby.
Great “everything’s going to be OK” business piece in Wired in April, which I’ve only just got round to reading:
“History will look back and see gain and gain. That’s because profits are not the same thing as social value….That the dotcom and telecom sectors needed (and need) to shrink has next to nothing to do with how useful their products will turn out to be…..British investors in US railroads during the late 19th century got their pockets picked twice: first as waves of overenthusiasm led to overbuilding, ruinous competition, and unbelievable (for that time) burn rates, and second as sharp financial operators stripped investors of control and ownership during bankruptcy workouts. Yet Americans and the American economy benefited enormously from the resulting network of railroad tracks that stretched from sea to shining sea. For a curious thing happened as railroad bankruptcies and price wars put steady downward pressure on shipping prices and slashed rail freight and passenger rates across the country: New industries sprang up…. The same thing will happen with the froth that the bubble put on our 1990s boom. Investors lost their money. We now get to use all their stuff. What got built wasn’t profitable, but a large chunk of it will be very useful.”
Just back from my first camping trip for 18 years. And I still don’t understand the appeal, particularly in English campsites, which seem to be pretty grim, even the 4-star one we stayed in. Best parts (focus on the positive, at all times):
- Bournemouth: what a revelation. Civilised, sandy beach, great surf shop. Just don’t eat at the American restaurant with the surf theme next to the pier. It’s shit.
- Splashdown: a water slide extravaganza just outside Poole. Highly recommended. I climbed so many stairs I began to think I was in an Escher drawing
- Playing frisbee and softball in the New Forest, in a patch of clearing surrounded by dense trees.
- Listing to the iPod in the pitch dark for half an hour after lights out each night. Reminded me of listening to Tommy Vance on the headphones when I was 15….
