... reviews @WestminSkeptics

For a change I've done a post over on the Daily Quail regarding the Westminster Skeptics in the Pub.

Enjoy! Tweet

Skeptical Voter

There's a new website called Skeptical Voter.

They describe themselves as:

[A] new website where we aim to discover and catalogue the political positions of Members of Parliament and candidates in next general election, specifically with regard with issues that 'Skeptical' people are interested in. These include the attitude of candidates to evidence-based policy, the role of the libel laws in science, and the teaching of creationism in schools.

I fully support this idea and aim to help out on their Wiki in any way possible, including adding stuff from the Pirate Party UK and my own TheyWantToWorkFromYou page. Tweet

Innocent = Person who's yet to commit a crime

We have had the latest instalment in the on-going saga regarding the government's DNA database and its plans to deal with innocent people who are on it.

As a recap, at the end of last year, in a 17-0 decision the European Court of Human Rights effectively told the Home Office to go screw itself if it thinks that it's right for innocent people's DNA samples to be kept on the register.

Since then - to put it mildly - the government has been dragging its feet over a response. However, we know now how long they plan to retain the samples, subject to the plans being approved by Parliament:

Convicted adults: indefinitely
Innocent adults: 6 years
Innocent, but arrested for terrorism: possibly indefinite
First minor offence: 5 years
Second minor or first serious offence: indefinite
Innocent 16 to 17-year-olds: 6 years for serious offences, 3 years for minor offences
Innocent younger juveniles: 3 years

The first thing that stands out is that the government appears unable or unwilling to accept that "innocent" means that you've done nothing wrong. The Home Office's apparent view is that being charged or even simply being arrested for a crime is good enough for you to no longer be trusted, so on to the database you go. It also appears to be completely ignoring the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, under which certain convictions themselves are ignored after specified periods of time, because you would have the situation where a DNA sample taken by the police long before a person is convicted of a crime would be on the register, even though the conviction itself would have long expired.

My view, which hopefully is supported by the Pirate Party UK, is that innocent people shouldn't be on there at all, nor should those whose convictions have been spent.

Let's see what happens next... Tweet

This is your government on drugs. Any questions?

I have been meaning to get around to write summat about the government sacking the head of its drug advisory body. In the unlikely event that you're not aware, he was sacked for the heinous crime of daring to criticise our Lords 'n' Masters for placing politics above evidence by saying that cannabis isn't as bad as the Home Office makes to out to be.

There's not much I can say other than it shows that the government is more-than-willing to put the views of the Daily Mail and Tory MP Anne Widdecombe over peer-reviewed studies on the harm that various substances cause to society.

On the plus side, he's now free to speak at the next Westminster Skeptics in the Pub on Monday 16 September.

By the way, one of my proposals - which I will hope that the Pirate Party UK agree with - is that the drug laws would be based on evidence of harm. Tweet

The Sun Lies: I saw the sign...

I have a new short post over on the Sun Lies.

This one is about a "spooky sign" that appeared yesterday. Tweet

FoIA: Local Councils and the Daily Mail, LB Newham respond

On Thursday I said that I hadn't had a response to my FoIA from LB Newham and they were out of time for doing so.

Apparently, Newham responded on 21 October 2009. However, I didn't receive anything nor did WhatDoTheyKnow.com...

Anyway, I have now received their response (PDF):

• in the three months of June to August the two most-accessed sites were Facebook and BBC News;
• they don't record the time spent on any website;
• they employ 13,186 people, including teachers; and
  
• the Daily Mail's site was accessed 202 times: 60 in June, 103 in July, 39 in August

Would anyone be interested in looking at the data for Newham, Merton, Wandsworth, Tower Hamlets and the City of London. Tweet