Conway & Sons escape prosecution

The Times report is here. On the face of it, the CPS and the police are treating a MP more leniently than they would a small business or a professional. Obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception is fraud whatever the 'rules' are. Certainly this is the view of Duncan Borrowman, but he could be said to have an interest, as the prospective LibDem candidate for Old Bexley.

However "weak" or "loose" the rules, there is NO excuse for claiming any money for someone who is not working at all at the time. It is a crime. I suppose the CPS argument might be that the House of Commons effectively left piles of money on the window-sill and said: "you should only take this money if it is due to you" and had no systems for determining whether or not those were the rules by which 660 gents and ladies took the cash.

Other fellow-LibDems say that we should not forget that it is safe seats which are the corrupting influence.

What is limited is the total spend. MPs with marginal seats, including most Lib Dems, can't afford to pay their staff much because they need a lot of them to do all the jobs necessary to retain their seats. In a safe seat MPs can pay more and do less work because they don't need to do more.

Your life details in their hands

Things might be looking up on the electronic data protection front. It's four weeks since the last security lapse (a confidential Home Office disc was found on a laptop computer that was sold on ebay).

The Mod is taking action on the security of third-party records and last November, the Prime Minister announced that Government will give the Information Commissioner the power to conduct spot checks on Government Departments, to do everything in his and Government's power to secure the protection of data.

There is still some way to go before the public's confidence is restored. A survey of 1,000 members of the public, which was sponsored by Symantec and conducted by IPSOS Mori, found 62 per cent of respondents felt their personal data being held by government departments was at risk.

William Beer, Symantec's European security practice director, commented: "Public confidence has been shaken. Six out of 10 people is a sizeable majority but I won't say the results surprised us. This is impacting people and it's not to do with their behaviour online. With this breach, it wasn't possible to change their behaviour to improve security. If this had been a merchant or online store, people could consider not doing a transaction."

Beer also said: "The new databases are causing a fair amount of legitimate concern in the public's eyes. If the government can't manage the current data set, how will it manage more sensitive data like biometrics?"

The public does not have much confidence in corporations to guard data either, the survey found, with 61 per cent of respondents saying they did not trust businesses to safeguard personal details.

Beer called for a UK data-breach notification law, which would require organisations that suffer a data breach to notify affected parties. He said the law would incentivise companies to better look after their data and that technical means were not enough to secure data.

He said: "It's a myth that technology is a silver bullet. Encryption will definitely help but there are times when you can't use it - there may be issues with keys, or passing the data set. There is a lot of focus needed on awareness [among end users of potential security problems, which is] often a challenging part of a security project. Companies have policies in place and technology in place but the weak link is the individual."

Roll-call of shame

Here is a round-up of incidents which I have gleaned from the last twelve months of reports. There are almost certainly many more which I have missed:
- Learner driver details go missing;
- Nationwide fined nearly £1m for security lapses;
- Countrywide Insurance in Cardiff;
- Stolen laptop puts 16,000 council staff at risk;
- Banks putting customer details out with the refuse;
- Norwich Union has "issues with" Indian offshore security;
- Halifax mortgage data stolen;
- TK Maxx credit card details;
- Patient details on a flash memory device;
- MoD lose Navy data on laptops;
- Court data on CD-ROM is lost in the post;
- and the big one by the Revenue.
Note that commercial and financial services organisations are culprits alongside government.

Sir Arthur C Clarke

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

This is the Clarke epigram most quoted in the announcements of his death which appeared in the various media. It surprised me that UK radio news gave so little time to appreciations of Clarke. Of course, it didn't help that the news came through as we were mourning the untimely end of Anthony Minghella and shortly before Paul Scofield died. However, "Leading Edge" (science news) and "Brief Lives" on Radio 4 made up for this. These programmes should still be available as podcasts or on BBC's Listen Again facility, developments which would have pleased Clarke.

My favourite passage is from "The View from Serendip", a collection of essays published in 1976. In "How to Dig Space", he writes:
"For a couple of hundred years, no one did much about Space except look at it. A few crazy writers - if that is not a tautology - wrote stories about going into Space. Nobody took them seriously, which was just as well because most of their Space stories were excuses to poke fun at the existing state of affairs. If the authors hadn't set their adventures in imaginary planets, they would have gone to very real jails. (However, it is always dangerous to send authors to jail. This removes their chief excuse for not writing.)" [My emphasis]

(In another essay, "The Second Century of the Telephone", he predicts - and welcomes - the development of the mobile phone and of WiFi, though using optical, rather than radio, waves.)

"The View from Serendip" was put together at the same time as he was writing "The Fountains of Paradise", in which Sri Lanka (once known as Serendip) also features. It must be significant that, on the island where he at last found personal fulfilment and emotional stability, he wrote the book in which a rounded, believable, human being steps off the page, as it were. For me, the characters in his previous work were merely devices to carry the ideas forward - though what ideas!

The dead tree media were rather more generous than their electronic brethren. For instance, The Independent gave a full page to two obituaries. The second, from Simon Welfare, who was involved in the making of Clarke's TV series "Mysterious World", concludes:
"Between takes on location, Arthur often amused himself, and us, by concocting new, and often outrageous, epitaphs. We gave a prize for the best. For once, I think, it was written by someone else, but it was fitting for a man whose vision had ranged so inspiringly across the seas of space. It read: 'I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.'"

Liberal Democrats love cats (slim ones, that is)

I haven't received my copy of Liberal Democrat News this week, but according to "Pandora" in the Independent, there is an intriguing item about cats and political preferences in the issue.

Apparently, a psephologist's research shows that Nick Clegg is "the clear favourite among UK cat owners", above the Prime Minister and David Cameron. Clegg came second among owners of dogs, rabbits and guinea pigs. Guinea pig carers exhibit a special and deep hatred of Gordon Brown. Dispelling another stereotype, the Liberal Democrat leader came last among hamster owners.

Peter Black and his good lady are well-known cat-lovers. Our former candidate in Aberavon, and Swansea City councillor, Claire Waller, is a cat person, too. Our local party secretary is more ecumenical, sharing her house with cats and dogs, who get on remarkably well together. I also like cats (provided they keep well away from my bird-table!), but in small doses because I am unfortunately allergic to both cats and dogs.

So, an unscientific survey tends to support the thesis. I now expect an energetic riposte from a dog-lover in Maesteg ...

Post Office closures

Yesterday, in the House of Commons, our two local MPs voted against this motion:

"That this House regrets the proposal to close up to 2,500 post offices; recognises the vital role post offices play in local communities; notes the concern and unpopularity amongst the general public of closing such a large portion of the network; has concerns that the access criteria laid down for the closures consultation do not adequately take into account local geographical factors and public transport networks; is concerned that the consultation period is only for six weeks rather than three months, as recommended by Cabinet Office guidelines; believes that post offices must move with the times in the services they offer and that options for business expansion and developing business opportunities with local authorities should be explored further; and calls upon the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform to instruct Post Office Limited to suspend the compulsory closure of sub-post offices while these issues are re-assessed."

(I am grateful to Peter Black to this link to the vote list.)

It will be noted that the motion makes no party points, even though it was moved by a Conservative. It is particularly surprising that Dr Francis, MP for Aberavon, otherwise such a champion of local sustainability, should vote against a motion which strikes a blow for communities.

Later: Peter Black has pointed out that Paul Flynn, another advocate of localism, also voted against the motion. His rationale is here.

Skateboards and dentistry

The last meeting of Coedffranc community council before the local election campaign took place last night.

There were bread-and-butter issues, like confirming tenders for various works and pursuing the matter of commuter car-parking.

We continue to fight for Cefn Parc Clinic. There were further revelations of inconsistencies and prevarications in the opposition's case.

As to skateboarding, my experience is that the most successful parks are the unofficial ones. When I worked in Penarth, it was amazing to see how quickly the station car park was taken over by enthusiastic young boarders after the commuters had departed. They caused no trouble or damage (that I could see) to any of the shops in the station parade.

However, we would like to see a facility for this still-popular activity in Skewen. Failing an unofficial skateboarding venue here, the council should provide one. We older people need to sort out the boring problems like insurance and possible sponsorship, but we also need input from the likely participants. At the meeting last night, I don't think there was a member under the age of 50. Hopefully, the elections will produce candidates to spread the age range on the incoming council.

We must get better at keeping the trains running

Commenting on the NAO report into Network Rail’s handling of rail accidents and incidents, Liberal Democrat Shadow Transport Secretary, Norman Baker said:

“If we are to have a railway fit for the 21st century passengers must have confidence that Network Rail is able to keep the trains running.

“Some delays are inevitable but there is much more that can be done to move towards a genuine seven day rail service.

“Single line working should be reintroduced where possible so that one track can remain open while engineering works continue.

“If the railways are to continue to grow passengers must be offered a good and reliable service, rather than constantly being faced with delays and cancellations.”

At the same time, the virtual auction for scarce modern rolling stock has seen First Great Western (serving South Wales) succeed in obtaining new train sets to improve its poor reliability, while Arriva has to delay its promised improvement in the quality of its services to North Wales.

The love of roads by the deputy first minister does not help, either.

See also Eleanor Burnham and Peter Black.

Prisons have become "shooting galleries"

It was reported last week that up to one in six inmates tested positive for opiates such as heroin. Liberal Democrat Shadow Solicitor General, David Howarth said:

“The fact that only one in four prisons were clear of positive opiate tests demonstrates just how much of a problem drug abuse is. Prisons are failing in their duty to prisoners and society when they fail to prevent drug misuse among inmates.

“It illustrates the dangers of sending large numbers of people to prison where their drug habits will not only fail to be cured, but may actually begin in the first place.

“The Government must learn that the best way to reduce prison overcrowding is not to release dangerous criminals early, but to move drug addicts and those with mental illness into more appropriate secure accommodation.”

The message was reinforced by today’s report from the UK Drugs Policy Commission which finds that prison risks doing more harm than good for the rehabilitation of drug users.

David Howarth continues:

“This report rightly highlights the load imposed by drug users on our over-burdened penal system. Instead of sending ever-increasing numbers of people to prison, the Government should focus on ordering drug treatment for non-serious offenders.

“For these offenders, effective drug treatment outside prison will have a far greater impact on reducing future crime than short-term prison sentences."