Stop Clause 152

If you care about fundamental rights and freedoms, privacy and confidentiality, the time to act is NOW.

Write to your MP - http://www.WriteToThem.com makes it very easy - and tell him or her that you REFUSE CONSENT to having your information shared under any 'INFORMATION SHARING ORDER', and ask him or her to vote to have CLAUSE 152 removed entirely from the CORONERS AND JUSTICE BILL.

Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill - currently being debated by the UK Parliament - would allow any Minister by order to take any information gathered for one purpose from anywhere, and use it for any other purpose.

Your information, your family's information, arbitrarily used without your consent or even knowledge. The very reverse of 'Data Protection'.

An 'Information Sharing Order', as defined in Clause 152, would permit your information to be trafficked and abused, not only all across government and the public sector - it would also reach into the private sector. And it would even allow transfer of information across international borders.

Please write to your MP now - AND TELL OTHERS.

If we act now, we can stop this. If we don't, another fundamental building block of privacy and trust will be lost.

Progress on my TftD Complaint

The answer is there has been no progress. The BBC Trust passed my complaint to the Director of Audio & Music for the 2nd stage of the complaints procedure. The Director simply  passed it to Mark Damazer who has now sent me exactly the same reply that he sent before. I.e. we are going round in circles! But maybe not quite. It implies that MD is the only person in the organisation competent to answer this particular complaint. I am surely entitled to assume that this completes the 2nd stage and go on to the 3rd stage by appealing to the BBC Trust. 

Watch this space.

Blasphemy

The following is copied from a posting on the facebook group supporting a  "Blasphemy Day International" on September 30th, 2009. I think it says everything that's needed.:-

Religions are ideologies like any others, and deserve no special treatment. The rise of militant Christians here and Muslims in the Middle East  is alarming. They continually attempt to impose their beliefs - which don't have a shred of evidence - on others. Rational people have the right and duty to try to stop this insanity spreading.

The idea that the other side can threaten our liberties and wreck our world, yet we shouldn't criticise them because it would offend, is outrageous. Religions are ideologies like any others, and deserve no special treatment. 

Radio 4's "Thought for the Day" complaint

Several weeks ago I complained to the Controller of Radio 4, Mark Damazer about lack of balance in the TftD slot on the Today programme. His reply  was  unsatisfactory and I wrote again.  He then said he had nothing to add and suggested I complained to the BBC Trust which I duly did. 

I have now heard from the BBC Trust  who say they have referred my complaint to the Director of Audio & Music for the 2nd stage response of a 3 stage complaints process, only the last stage of which can be the appeal to the BBC Trust. So it seems that Mark Damazer is not well informed. 

When god's on your side: Geert Wilders and islam

When god's on your side: Geert Wilders and islam