Citizensheep » government http://citizensheep.com/blog Michael Grimes lives in Birmingham (UK). This is his blog about anything that he fancies. Wed, 23 May 2012 15:29:35 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Government Department News Feeds on Twitter http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/30/government-department-news-feeds-on-twitter/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/30/government-department-news-feeds-on-twitter/#comments Fri, 29 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/30/government-department-news-feeds-on-twitter/

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    • ]]>     Does what it says on the tin. Well actually it does more: it lists the RSS feeds and Twitter accounts of UK government departments, and bigs up the Central Office of Information's News Distribution Service (http://nds.coi.gov.uk/).

    Visit Government Department News Feeds on Twitter

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/30/government-department-news-feeds-on-twitter/feed/ 2     MPs have behaved atrociously, but would we have been any better? http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/13/mps-have-behaved-atrociously-but-would-we-have-been-any-better/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/13/mps-have-behaved-atrociously-but-would-we-have-been-any-better/#comments Wed, 13 May 2009 17:36:01 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=1508

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    1. OpenGov: One big challenge? Or a thousand small hurdles
    • ]]>     Recent revelations that British Members of Parliament have abused their expenses are pretty appalling. But maybe it’s society that needs to change its attitude, and not simply the MPs.

    Yesterday Lord Foulkes challenged BBC presenter Carrie Gracie to reveal her salary. When she did, he lambasted her for daring to cross-examine him when her own salary of £92,000 is almost twice as much his.

    I’m sorry, but that’s hardly the issue. Gracie replied that she uses her own phone rather than the BBC’s because she’s aware of spending public money. That may sound a little lame considering the size of her salary, but she’s absolutely right: it’s the attitude that’s the issue here, not the amount of money.

    Lord Foulkes may be earning a lot less than Carrie Gracie, but he’s still earning a lot more than I do: and I consider myself well-paid. I work for a charity, which is funded in part by public money. I work from home, and I don’t claim for phone calls, electricity, or heating. (Maybe I should, in order to give the organisation a better picture of its financial position; but that’s for another post.)

    Certainly I don’t expect people not to claim for expenses incurred in the performance of their job, but some moral integrity wouldn’t go amiss.

    Which begs the question: would we be any different?

    How many of those who have been so eager to criticise MPs’ use of expenses wouldn’t have done exactly the same given the chance? It would be interesting, for example, to see a freedom of information response on this from the Telegraph.

    If such a request did show a similarity of behaviour, the defence – I should imagine – would be that it isn’t public money that they’re spending. True, but if someone takes advantage of expenses in the private sector, they’re unlikely to change their spots if they then move to the public sector.

    It’s our attitude to money and to our behaviour in business and society that is important. If we don’t see ourselves as having a duty to behave responsibly with others, and within the society and communities in which we operate, then nothing will change; MPs will always act selfishly – even if they do it within the rules – because that’s what people do.

    If we change the attitudes of people – of us – maybe we’ll have a greater chance of cleaning up parliamentary politics.

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/13/mps-have-behaved-atrociously-but-would-we-have-been-any-better/feed/ 0     OpenGov: One big challenge? Or a thousand small hurdles http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/06/opengov-one-big-challenge-or-a-thousand-small-hurdles/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/06/opengov-one-big-challenge-or-a-thousand-small-hurdles/#comments Wed, 06 May 2009 15:03:38 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/06/opengov-one-big-challenge-or-a-thousand-small-hurdles/ Excellent post by Tim Davies. He argues that when it comes to governments and large organisations engaging with technology for social change, there is not one big challenge but lots of little ones; and that as those multiply, the ability to engage effectively shrinks. He then lists 50 key challenges that he's encountered so far this year: so now we know they exist we can do something about them; and - hopefully - improve the chances of technology to support social change effectively.

    Visit OpenGov: One big challenge? Or a thousand small hurdles

    ]]>     Excellent post by Tim Davies. He argues that when it comes to governments and large organisations engaging with technology for social change, there is not one big challenge but lots of little ones; and that as those multiply, the ability to engage effectively shrinks. He then lists 50 key challenges that he's encountered so far this year: so now we know they exist we can do something about them; and – hopefully – improve the chances of technology to support social change effectively.

    Visit OpenGov: One big challenge? Or a thousand small hurdles

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/05/06/opengov-one-big-challenge-or-a-thousand-small-hurdles/feed/ 0     Unblocking the Blockers http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/29/unblocking-the-blockers/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/29/unblocking-the-blockers/#comments Thu, 29 Jan 2009 10:03:07 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/29/unblocking-the-blockers/ These are my links for 29 January 2009 from 09:00 to 09:00]]> Stef Gray of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), has created a little tool for finding out which social networking sites your employer is blocking you from. Subversive? A little. Good. Help Stef build up his ‘picture of access to social media tools from the workplace’.

    Visit Unblocking the Blockers

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/29/unblocking-the-blockers/feed/ 0     Bookmarks for 8 January 2009 through 15 January 2009 http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/16/bookmarks-for-8-january-2009-through-15-january-2009/ http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/16/bookmarks-for-8-january-2009-through-15-january-2009/#comments Fri, 16 Jan 2009 04:00:22 +0000 Michael http://citizensheep.com/blog/?p=451

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    • ]]>     These are my links for 8 January 2009 through 15 January 2009:

    ]]>     http://citizensheep.com/blog/2009/01/16/bookmarks-for-8-january-2009-through-15-january-2009/feed/ 0