Links tagged with “government”
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Tom Crewe · Carnival of Self-Harm: Good Riddance to the Tories
Even having lived through this mess, it’s shocking to read how badly successive Tory governments have screwed the country.
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A GDS Story | Government Digital Service
Really nice as a chronicle of an evolving service’s history. It’s so easy to lose this stuff. Especially great that it has lots of old screenshots, sketches, photos etc. It’d be good if more organisations and companies found time to do this kind of thing. (via @gilest)
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The Beginning of the End of Big Government IT | MetaFilter
Good discussion of this stuff, with calm defences by danhon and migurski in the face of (understandable) cynicism that sees the private sector as either big, dumb corporates or small, dumb Silicon Valley techbros. (via @neb)
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Francis FitzGibbon · Short Cuts · LRB 23 October 2014
Interesting about exactly how much or little the Human Rights Act, which the Tories want to repeal, constrains the British government.
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Tariff Notices - GOV.UK
An amazing list of very specific things that HMRC have had to classify for import and export purposes. “fireside companion set”, “article having a shape of a cylinder”, “stress balls, spectacles, goggles and the like”, etc.
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They may have the money, but we have the tools of technology.
James Darling. I’ll be upfront about this: I find any, “We’re doing amazing worthwhile things at the government, doing Good, and it’s your duty to join us,” rhetoric really, really annoying. But this is still good stuff. And *such* an antidote if you’ve read one too many Silicon Valley boosterism posts on Medium.
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DWP - Services and benefits online - What do I need?
Staggeringly shit. The service was designed to work with Internet Explorer versions 5 through 6 on (old) Windows only. One assumes the GOV.UK accessibility shock troops will roll into town eventually.
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Theresa May’s Internet History - a Freedom of Information request to Home Office - WhatDoTheyKnow
Very good. If she’s done nothing wrong, she’s got nothing to hide, so there should be no problem, so they say. (via @gwire)
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Local councils have right to say their prayers, says Eric Pickles | Society | The Guardian
Wow, I had no idea lots of councils have (Christian) prayers as part of their meetings. Nuts. it’s like living in America.
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French expats to get their own MPs | World news | The Guardian
That’s interesting, dividing the world outside France into 11 constituencies, with an MP for each representing French expats living there.
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The Technium: Corporate Long-term-ism
“There is a strong anti-government attitude at loose in the world (not just in the US) that believes that government can only screw things up. And at the same time, a belief that corporations are the prime engines of all that is socially good.”
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Welcome to alpha.gov.uk
A prototype version of a future comprehensive UK government website. So nice that you can’t believe it came from anywhere within government. Well done folks!
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Wikileaks and the Long Haul
Yes. I’m unsure about the Wikileaks thing too, but the US’s government’s reaction to it is the thing that scares me.
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Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government” « zunguzungu
Interesting post on Assange’s ideas behind the leaks and, whether you agree with him or not, there’s more to it than simply publicising specific secret acts.
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Julian Assange and the Computer Conspiracy; “To destroy this invisible government” « zunguzungu
Interesting post on Assange’s ideas behind the leaks and, whether you agree with him or not, there’s more to it than simply publicising specific secret acts.
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The government shouldn’t hang on Google’s every word | Charles Arthur | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Yes, it’s good the government is making positive noises about technology, start-ups etc, but also, this. (Although, are you really surprised a government, especially Conservative, is taking policy advice from large companies?)
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HM Government - Petition to: encourage government departments to upgrade away from Internet Explorer 6
Oh dear. (via @tom_watson)
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House of Compliance « LRB blog
Edward Pearce on the nonsense of the government consulting “The People” about everything. “The People are not stupid, but by and large, they are wonderfully under-informed. And as sure as hell, they are not very interested.”
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The voices of liberty have triumphed and Britain is better for it | Henry Porter | Comment is free | The Observer
I feel pleasantly confused about being relieved at the death of a Labour government and the repeal of some of their laws. (via Chrisdodo)
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Parliament.uk | Bills before Parliament
I haven’t noticed this before - a surprisingly simple and clear indication of the bills. Click one to see its progress in more detail. Not perfect, but much better than I expected.
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Open Rights Group | The Digital Economy Bill - a first critical look
Good, and alarming, summary of that bloody bill.
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Illicit filesharing - p2p - government evidence to the culture committee | Tom Watson MP
Good questioning from Tom Watson. I’m continually gob-smacked by the craven corporate backwardness of the government. I wish there was a Labour party.
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Government Beyond Obama? - The New York Review of Books
A review of ‘The Case for Big Government’ from March 2009, good at putting levels of US federal government spending in a historical perspective.
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Senator Charles Grassley on the costs of health care (C-SPAN video)
In case you missed the clips on The Daily Show, here’s the full video of Grassley’s bizarre cartoon-powered Arthurian mixed metaphors. It’s stunning that this nonsense happens in government.
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Monbiot.com » You Stand for Nothing But Election
Using TheyWorkForYou data to demonstrate Hazel Blears’ spineless voting record. “You create an impenetrable political monoculture, then moan that people don’t engage in politics.” (via Stef on Twitter)
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Simon Jenkins: Here’s proof. The innocent do have something to fear | Comment is free | The Guardian
“One of the few home secretaries who dominated his department rather than be cowed by it was Lord Whitelaw in the 1980s. He boasted how after any security lapse, the police would come to beg for new and draconian powers. He laughed and sent them packing…” (via Preoccupations)
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Internet records to be stored for a year - Telegraph
Another day another invasion of privacy. Hard to believe this stuff. I should start tagging these things. #fuckingupthecountry? (via Infovore)
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BarbicanTalk.com :: View topic - Has anyone else received the faulty postal vote forms?
This all sounds a bit dodgy, in the City of London’s bizarre version of democracy.