RealPlayer privacy issues

Occasionally I need to help out a friend with their computer, then I notice what "Real Spyware Player" is doing, pre-loading its self and using up system resources.. presenting its browser and ads when it first opens, and even going online when the computer starts without permission (causing ADSL modem to dial!)

Check out this screen shot of it causing the ADSL dial:
I don't think it should ever have been coded to work like this. It even does this in the BBC custom version which is supposed to not include all their adverts and calling home functionality. Another reason to not use RealPlayer any more.

Bike and Ski helmets

I'm still surprised bike and ski helmets are not compulsary, either of which could save a life or prevent severe concussion. Time to make helmets compulsory?

I've landed on rocks myself when skiing and it hurts! luckily not on my head yet though :)

UK House Price Crash

Looks like the house price crash I predicted last year is now in full swing. The crash is going to be even bigger than the last 40% correction potentially. A 50% reduction in prices over the next four years is a distinct possibility after all these uncontrolled boom years!

Better UK post codes

Current post codes take the form of 8 alphanumeric characters, but that only indicates a street (or one side of the street typically).

What we really need is a post code which includes the property reference.

So CB1 2QP which is Abbey Street in Cambridge gets an additional number at the end to indicate the property number, making it CB1 2QP 14.

Each post code may have up to 999 properties on it, and so the number can be anything from 1-999 (does not need to be zero padded). The 14 does not necessarily need to correlate with the building number, but if the street is numbered, those numbers should correlate. If the buildings have names they should be assigned a number.

So when we phone up to give our address and order something, we only need to provide CB1 2QP 14, and not need the person at the other end to select our house name from a big drop-down list.

UK road signs

For those of you who've not driven the UK before, it's a bit different compared to Europe, we've still not adopted the standard road signs for Motorways and even speed signs (UK just displays a white circle with black diagonal line across to mean 60 or 70 mph)! So you will have to figure out the UK sign system, which isn't always logical.

Also the UK is still using Imperial measurements for road distances too, which is a shame considering schools and all professions work in Metric!

UK driving on right hand side of road

The Romans drove on the left, as does the UK and Japan, but 72% of the world drives on the right side of the road, with Sweden switching to the right in the 60s. Should the UK follow suit and allow us to import our cars from Europe? See wikipedia for the origins, but being right-handed suits having your right hand potentially free because you are driving on the left side of the road. Generally boats all drive on the right side of shipping lanes. Also planes on a collision course towards each other each turn left to avoid a collision.

Like eating with Knife and Fork, those right-handed take Knife, the more complex of the two to operate in their right hand. How does this compare for driving? Having driven on both the left and right I always find myself crusing with my right hand on the steering wheel, which shows that steering is best suited to to being right-hand drive like the UK is currently. The gears are very easy to operate on a stick or automatic in either hand I find.

Time for the UK to switch to be the same as the rest of the EU?

Too much packaging

I'm sure everyone is noticing just how much superfluous packaging food and products now come in. Now rather than taking all that packaging off individually wrapped apples in a larger bag at home, imagine if we took all the packaging off while still in the supermarket. Imagine if we left it all there neatly placed in black sacks, and took the food home in our reusable shopping bags. Supermarkets would have to hire skips at great expense to take away the packaging, and would soon stop buying produce from supplies who over-packed their food ;)

English spelling irregularities

English spelling is pretty eccentric, I wonder if it would ever be possible to switch the spelling of words to a phonetic base. Would be hard as spelling is so engrained, and also many other countries speak English as their first language. However, other languages have tried to make modifications over time, i.e. like High German dropping the sharp-s character, so "Grüße" becomes "Grüsse", I still see the ß charcter widely in use, so the government trying to change may not necessarily make it successful. Also, do we really want to have to change languages back to just latin letters..?

Phorm unique tracking

BBC ran a story earlier this week: Ad system 'will protect privacy'. Also the PMs site has a petition worth signing. The Phorm site has a privacy page with some more information.

Phorm say their tracking is anonymous, but surely they have miss-understood the definition of Anonymous (from the Greek ανωνυμία):

Oxford English Dictionary:

Anonymous a.
1. Not identified by name; of unknown identity.
2. Having no individual or unusual features.

Or as Chambers Dictionary puts it, "without character; nondescript"

Once I have been assigned a unique number which identifies every communication with me uniquely, surely I am no longer anonymous?

Once they have tagged my interests as "cars", "music", "travel" and "gadgets" surely that would constitute something along the lines of "individual or unusual features" ? I'm certainly no longer nondescript.

The honest way would be for Phorm to phrase it: "uniquely identified, profiled and browsing categories tracked by a number rather than a name".

Let's see what the Information Commissioner's research into Phorm reveals.

Phorm privacy problem

The UK PM's site has a petition We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop ISP's from breaching customers privacy via advertising technologies. Please consider signing it, already on 2,009 signatures, going up 500 per day!

Freeconomy walk fails - just bad planning?

Inspired by Gandhi's walk to Porbander (India), Mark Boyle planned to walk from Bristol to Porbander as a "Community Pilgrim" to promote his Freeconomy community movement. Unfortnately for him he failed and returned from France this week.

To me it looks incredibly stupid to set off abroad to France in light of not being able to speak French! No wonder everyone thought he was a freeloading backpacker or illegal migrant. It's pretty rude to expect people to speak English when French is such a significant language itself. Setting out on a walk with such a complete lack of planning is simply stupid. His community didn't yet exist, and no wonder no one understood what he was aiming to achieve. Had he marketed his mission in advance online, and got local media involved it would probably have been more successful.

However, setting off with no money at all is pretty silly, if he wants to get things to move to a "freeconomy" there has to be some intermediary phase (like the difference between socialism and communism, no country ever reached communism).

From his site:
"So what is The Freeconomy Community about?

It's about making the transition from a money-based communityless (sic) society to a community-based moneyless society."


What Mark wants has been tried before, the socialist countries in Eastern Europe, CCCP and Asia all operated barter trading agreements. Putting a numerical value on things just seems to work better though, because you can't often work out how many sheep you need to barter for a car..! the free market is pretty good at deciding prices. In CCCP there was a state managed economy, where Gosplan would "predict" demand, and set prices. The problem with predicting is that they would ramp up production for say "fashionable shoes", and then it would turn out that people didn't like them. The moral is, you can't predict what consumers what to buy. In addition, there needs to be the "success factor" that is capitalism, otherwise there bad ideas and bad products last for ever, when, like in evolution only the successful products and services should survive.

It's odd that Mark expected to rely on others food and shelter while on his trip, which those people would obviously foot the bill for.

At least the media have highlighted the need for schools to educate in modern popular languages which people like Mark will need when they are on trips abroad.

The Landshare idea on his website is pretty silly, making everyone run an allotment. It reminds me of domestic iron production in CCCP.

These days Mark would probably make more of an impact on the world if he got on Wife Swap somehow.

Telegraph article. Mark Boyle website. Funny commentary on the walk.

Time to prohibit chewing gum?

As chewing gum will always get dropped and stuck on pavements by a minority, is it time to prohibit chewing gum sales in the UK/EU? Singapore banned it back in 1992, the ban remains to this day (although medicinal gum is allowed). I wouldn't miss it, and it would not be "nanny state" ban. In fact, dog dirt is just as much a problem, if only the culture would change, and owners would tidy up after their pooches!

Arnotts Tim Tams!

Tim Tams taste great! Only £1.30 on that site, for an Australian delicacy! TrueBlueTucker also sell them in the UK.

Adam Curtis Documentaries

I've been catching up on older documentary series' by Adam Curtis recently. Saw his Power of Nightmares, and The Trap previously.

Century of Self - concerns consumerism and democracy.

The Mayfair Set - concerns how a group of four men who frequented the Clermont club in London ultimately shaped the climax of the Thatcher years.

Pandora's Box - concerns how governments have utilised technology for their own aims.

Political revival of Scots Gaelic

After the nationalist politicians in Wales have been desperately reviving the Welsh language, Scotland's nationalist politicians have also started along a track to the detriment of the citizens who elected them as well. The Scottish Parliament passed the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act back in 2005, establishing a quango called "Bòrd na Gàidhlig" to push Scots Gaelic back into Education and Scottish life from it's defunct position.

It's a sorry day for the students who could otherwise be spending those 4-6 hours a week learning another popular language to give them an advantage in life.

At least Scotland isn't trying to mandate school lessons in Gaelic... yet.. See Wikipedia's Language revival and Languages of the United Kingdom articles for further information.

FTSE speculation graph

There is an interesting graph on the BBC site at present. It shows the FTSE index over the last 20 years. You can see it has grown 3500 points over this period, which in the two year intervals on the graph is 175 points per year on average. If we take that increase and draw a diagonal line we can see the index is roughly on track at its correct value at present.

I've prepared an estimation of what it could be over the next four years if it actually stuck to this average increase rate (picture right).

No we all know from looking at the BBC graph that it doesn't follow the trend.. However, the key thing to remember is that, if we buy when the index is below the current trend line then we are sure to make more than we would if bought when above the line over a long term investment period.

So.. I'll be waiting for the next dip below the trend before I get an ISA index tracker! Personally I think the index will drop to around 4,500 over the next 12-18 months. Happy investments!

Free SAP competitor?

Anyone know of a free software SAP competitor? It's a big marketplace.

Apple Milking Europe with 20% higher prices

Arp has posted some US figures to go with my Apple Macbook Vs Dell Laptop comparison.

Looks better, only a $180 US difference, which translates in to UK pounds as:

• Apple Macbook - £778
• Dell M1330 - £686

I wonder why Apple have such different prices in the states, 20% more expensive! The Dell is only £33 (5%) more than in the UK! Apple milking it's European "fan base" ?

Boost min wage to reduce inequality

The BBC are covering today research which shows the top 10% of earners are accelerating away from the population as a whole. If those 10% were taxed more this wouldn't be so bad under the last 10 years of Labour government.

The top 10% do not really matter that much, it's the average of the population that has to be improved. If the minimum wage was increased above 20% per annum this wouldn't be so pronounced after 10 years. Currently the min wage is £5.52, if increased at 20% for the next too years that would take it up to £7.94 per hour, taking the lowest salary up to £16,000.

ipod advert music

While I prefer my Sony Ericsson to a solely music player with Digital Restrictions like Apple's ipod... I still find the song on the ipod advert quite catchy. If you want to buy it too, it's by a band called Feist, and the track is called 1234, get it from the hype machine!

Warning - MPS Junk mail opt out only lasts 5 years!

Having just registered with the UK's MPS (Marketing Preference Service) to stop getting junk mail I got a confirmation letter warning that it will expire in 5 years, and that it will take them up to 4 months to stop their marketing association members from junk mailing me. Not very effective+efficient is it.!? Why can't it last for ever?

BBC-B in UoSAT-2 launch video

Not exactly 20 years ago today.. but this UoSAT-2 video is pretty cool anyway. Check out the BBC-B in the video!. The Major Tom sound track is pretty ace too :)

The political revival of the Welsh language

It's a shame how things have gone in the last 10yrs regarding Welsh, from being a dead language only spoken by a few in the North West of the country (Snowdonia etc) it has had the political bellows firmly wedged into it, and they have managed to keep the embers burning at great cost to the UK and to the people of Wales.

The economic cost is plain:

• There is no economic benefit to speaking welsh when everyone in Wales speaks English.
• It costs the UK millions and millions to translate all official documents and leaflets into Welsh, when they are already struggling to assist "genuine" non-native English speakers to understand the paperwork they need to complete.

The strategy which should have been fostered:

• Assistance provided to the elderly generation who live in the North regions which don't have English as their first language.
• All schools teaching pupils in English.
• Encourage take up of a "genuine" foreign language in school, French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese etc

Then:

• After the benefits of a workforce fluent in an international standard language and an equally useful second language are realised, phase out Welsh completely. Leaving Welsh like Cornish and Gaelic, Scots and Latin.

My welsh friends all broadly see Welsh as a waste of learning time when we live in such a connected world where English and another international language would be very useful.

The economic benefits of a workforce which can live and work in other areas of the UK and the world are a key point. I've seen no evidence to support teaching Welsh and reviving it further, everything points to it just being a nationalist political exercise which will do Wales no long term good. Will the Nationalists have the last laugh? or the citizens?

Check your insurance file

Insurance Database Services Limited run the Claims and Underwriting Exchange which holds a database of information passed to them from Insurance companies on any claims you have made. I checked my record recently and found errors on the record which Elephant had twice assured me they had corrected!

Fill in this form and write to them yourself at:
The Company Secretary
Insurance Database Services Limited
1st Floor, 100 Fenchurch St
London EC3M 5JD

Oddly they ask on that form for us to tell them what claims had been made, surely they should be the ones telling us that so we can check?

It costs slightly more than the credit reference agency file, coming in at £10, but maybe you can argue for it back if there are errors?

Check your credit file for only £2

I'm glad I checked my credit file recently, both Experian and Equifax had erroneous data from two banks.

The good news is we can pay £2 by cheque or postal order to the companies and get a full copy. Be sure to include your D.O.B. full name and previous addresses in the last six years!

Write to:
Experian Limited
PO BOX 8000
NOTTINGHAM
NG1 5GX

Equifax
Credit File Advice Centre
PO BOX 1140
BRADFORD
BD1 5US

Consumer Services Team
Callcredit plc
PO Box 491
Leeds LS3 1WZ

Interestingly, although they hold a database on us, it is currently regulated by the Credit Act rather than the Data Protection Act (so the Information Commissioner does not directly regulate).

Missing Data Protection Contoller contact details

I've noticed in recent years that I will purchase something or donate to a charity, and then discover that despite not ticking the box to opt into their marketing (or vice versa, always ticking to opt-out!), I've been added to their marketing databases. Often my details are then sold on to other companies, I've had Oxfam passing my details to Crisis, and also SmileTrain have just passed on my details to RNLI and MINT I suspect.

The problem is, they don't include a clear address to write to get in touch with the Data Protection Controller and track down the cause of this leak. Also the organisations are often unwilling to put in place policies to verify consent was provided before they buy in data. Many Data Protection Controllers do not even keep records of where they obtained the data from (Gateshead Council Electoral Roll return slips) (Gateshead sold my details to Harveys Furniture Store).

In my experience many Controllers are unwilling to divulge who they have distributed personal data too, or the source when they must have records of it.

I think we need a few "cultural" changes relating to Data Protection of persons information by organisations which we hope we can trust:

• Include full contact details for Data Protection Controller in all communications.
• Data Protection Controller needs to keep records of where personal data arrived from and that permission has been provided and verified.
• Penalties and compensation for breaches of personal data and the time taken to sort out the problems of unauthorised data leaks.
• ICO office being given more powers to investigate/audit organisations, and do spot checks to verify data breaches and record keeping in organisations.
  

Some organisations are not even registering on the Data Protection Register, in my view they should be fined and audited by the ICO, charging them for the cost of the audit.

The HMRC incidents in the UK really highlight how lapse this situation is at present. So Data Controllers, have a new years resolution to do your jobs properly! ;)

New train service to London!

I wondered why there weren't many services running these days. Now I know the answer:
hehe, merry Gregorian new year everyone

When even the Information Commissioner's office is tracking us, who's left to trust?

I posted last month about cookie tracking, and now I noticed that none other than the UK Information Commissioner's website is also assigning me a unique number which does not expire until 2009!! Spot the referal tracking too? and what does "organic" mean?

I could not believe that this would be something the ICO Richard Thomas, would have allowed his office to set this up. I can't even think this was an oversight, as it is necessary to sign-up for the tracking system account before you can use it!

Interestingly, even googling for "information commissioner" gives me the warning that the website is trying to set a unique tracking cookie on my computer.
Before anyone posts saying it is anonymous, check the definition of anonymous -- "lacking individuality, unique character, or distinction", oops Mr ICO!

So much for warning of the big brother state then Mr Thomas!?

The ICO is an independent office of government, responsible for protecting access to personal information and providing access to official information. Covering the following legislation: Data Protection Act 1998, The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Let's see if the ICO practices what preaches regarding privacy any time soon...

Forms and paperwork now expand to fit the net

It seems like every form which used to be 1 page has now increased to about 10 thanks to how "easy" it is to ask for someone to fill it in online. The net could be used to complete the compact forms of old and speed up the process, but it seems it's only made it simpler for organisations to ask for more information! When a new motorway is built to ease congestion, within a couple of years it's also at gridlock.

Simple changes to improve road safety

Working in the home counties recently, I see lots of little villages and winding roads. What surprises me is that nearly all these roads are set at the national speed limit and there aren't any double-white lines in the middle stopping people from overtaking. So every day I am doing 40 mph around a sharp bend and find someone else overtaking and almost careering into my car!

So some simple steps to cut down road traffic accidents:

• Double-white lines on all roads where there is not a perfect overtaking opportunity, cutting out about 50% of the current overtaking death spots.
• Widen roads by 1 Meter, and use that space to separate the two opposing traffic lanes with a white dash painted area.
• Repaint the white fluorescent markings down the centre of the road regularly, and in particular at junctions (a common location of accidents)
• Fix or replace all broken cats-eyes, too many roads have worn markings and missing cats-eyes.

Easy stuff, and not that costly to save lives, so why isn't it done!?

Happy birthday Open Rights Group!

ORG is officially Two years old today, congratulations! For those not already members, please consider supporting any way you can ;)

The French will be pleased not to arrive in Waterloo!

With the opening of St Pancras to the Eurostar High Speed 1 route which travels through the chunnel from France, some must be very pleased about not having to arrive in a station named after the defeat which ended the Napoleonic wars!

Victory against Napoleon was on 18 June 1815 at Waterloo (Belgium), secured by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army against the might of Napoleon. Waterloo bridge was named after the battle, and then Waterloo station was named after the bridge.

I'm happy to have a high-speed route in to London from the channel, but wonder just how long we'll have to wait until the rest of the UK has high-speed routes..?

Regulating CCTV in the UK, Surveillance Protection Principles proposed

From last year's EthiComp Conference, A. A. Adams of Reading University presented Regulating CCTV.

Quotes from the Abstract: "Given that the number of CCTV cameras in the UK is the largest in the world, and given that it is unclear when video data should be regarded as Personal Data (or what rights a blanket definition would reasonably provide to the surveilled) it is claimed that a CCTV Act is needed in the UK"

"Specific proposals for securing data and infrastructure are suggested, in addition to some general Surveillance Protection Principles."

The real reason and benefit of the 2012 London Olympics

We would all think the Olympics was about sports and building bridges between different countries and peoples. That's still officially the goal, but the reality is that it costs too much to bid successfully and develop the facilities that now it's about more than just the eight week Olympic period.

It's about the legacy, what facilities and regeneration the Olympic works will bring in. It's a great excuse to spend a lot of tax payers money, re-developing depressed areas. Like the Stratford in North London.

As well as all the fantastic sports facilities, we are also getting part of the rail network the capital is desparate for. The new Crossrail route from east to west, and the eurostar line (High Speed 1) down to the chunnel from St Pancras, Stratford and Ebbsfleet International stations.

I'm looking forward to making the most of these new transport facilities ;)

Guesthouse provides Linux wireless config!

I have to say, this was a first for me, Clifton Guest house in Maidenhead provided me with a wireless connection sheet with Linux (and MS-Windows) instructions on it! Interestingly they missed Mac details out, a signal of the way things are going!?

Commercial Maglev comes to Europe

The BBC reports that Europe is getting it's first commercial Maglev train, in the form of a service from Munich aeroport into the city centre. We could do with a Maglev in London. Now we only have the Heathrow express which costs £15.50, about 8 times more than other airport shuttle services, and still takes over 20 mins to get to Heathrow!

Time for Free Software addoption in whitehall?

Interesting article in the Guardian, Ignoring open source is costing us dear. Not making the most of these opportunities for cost savings does seem mad, spend the money savned on the front line services politicians keep talking about!. Hope the UK and Europe will consider adopting more Open Source/Free Software apps... what's good for Google, Amazon, Malmaison and Alfresco should at least be considered !

UK fibre broadband

The UK Government is considering fibre broadband assistance. The thing is, we've been lagging behind Korea and Japan for some years now on this front. I'm sure it would drive our economy forward if we had 100 mbit/sec connections in each home! Certain areas have VirginMedia cable, which can offer up to these speeds, but without competition in the marketplace they don't really have any reason to ramp up!

Inefficient road usage (not making the most of our roads!)

I've noticed a few drivers don't follow golden rules of keeping traffic moving on normal A roads and even motorways recently:

• Not driving near the national speed limit (60mph). Trundling along at 40mph creates a tailback with often no safe overtaking spots. Solution: Drive the same speed as everyone else, like they do in the US, an evenly spaced convoy ;)
• Speed cameras and traps, at fixed locations and fixed speed limits delaying traffic 24hrs a day when they only need to rate-limit traffic during rush hour. I've been on dual-carriageways which are empty at midnight, still with a 50mph speed limit. Likewise driving past a school in on a Sunday is still a 30mph zone!
• On motorways some drivers forget to move back to the slower lanes when they've finished their overtaking manoeuvre. On four-lane motorways I see people trundling along lane 2 and 3 at 65mph, which bungs up the fast-lane with more traffic than the rest of the road (undertaking not being allowed!).
  

What's the solution? I think just a little bit of common sense, and polite reminding of those making the mistakes. Variable speed-limits which depend on traffic levels, like we have on motorways. Speed cameras can be replaced with interactive speed displays, with the polite "Thank you" when the driver slows to within the limit ;)

Bring Concorde back to flight?

Wouldn't it be great to see Concorde flying again? or even another Mach 2.0 consumer aircraft. I'm surprised no one has yet filled the gap left by Concorde myself. Personally I'd be happy to invest time and effort to buy an airframe and get one flying again on a commercial basis!

Quite a few Concorde models are within reach, Concorde 216 is at Filton Aerodrome in Bristol, and 206, 204, 208 and 209 are also in storage in the UK!

The Save Concorde Group are looking to get one back into flight, hopefully it will come together! Concorde SST is another website with an active forum.

iPlayer Linux

The BBC have just launched their "on-demand" internet ready iPlayer beta. It's actually only Microsoft Windows XP compatible though -- no Linux or Mac support! This is essentially the same as if the BBC broadcast in a format incompatible with TVs which weren't manufactured by Panasonic!

Sign the iPlayer Linux petition, and make yourself, the free public heard!

Lib Dems ensure Red Ken is reelected

We learned this week how Greg Dyke was forced to rule out a bid for London mayor. Ming Campbell put the boot into the Torys' proposal of a joint independent candidate to scupper that venture.

Ed Davey said: "the way to defeat him [Red Ken] is not to have an 'anyone-but-Ken' candidate, it is to win the argument over issues that matter to the capital."

Sounds like Ed Davey doesn't hasn't seen the realities of election politics; because the populace have so few opportunities express their opinion, when an opportunity does arrise after a long stint with a present party, the opponents often pick up many more votes than they could otherwise -- due to protest votes. Also, interestingly people won't want to risk a protest vote when things aren't going well, so Red Ken would have actually been at risk because he'd done "not that bad a job", as Greg highlights.

The Lib Dems command such a small amount of support, so why not form alliances with other parties and succeed overall? Also, while it's not to late for another Lib Dem leader!

House Price Crash Soon

I've been looking at the housing market in the UK and I can see we are in-line for a significant correction affect, bringing houses down to just below there market value.

I'm sure this correction will occur over the next four years. Below I've included analysis to support my assertion, let's see how it pans out.

House prices presently stand at six times average earnings, historical peaks like 1990 only went up to five times average earnings. In the dips like 1991-95 it went all the way back down to three times average earnings. (ERM disaster in 1992 hurried this along)

Upto 25% of the market is buy2let, another influencing factor pushing the prices up has been the fact that a typical household is now down to 1.9 from 2.4 (younger generation living alone for longer). Younger generation buying on their own as previoys point, in both their own home and rented (from all those buy2let people!).

Inflation is high now (RPI, PRIX and even CPI at running at 3%).

The other thing to consider is if there has been a change in the model. The Labour government, in power since '97 has adopted polices to push families where one parent at home to put the children in nursery and after school clubs, allowing both parents to work. This has boosted the income, meaning a combined earnings of six times average salary is more common. This is a shame for the single income house-holds, as they have been squeezed out of the market.

There is significantly more to be gained now by waiting 3-4yrs than buying now and paying off 3yrs of mortgage, because over that period the house price will have gone down 40%!

A house which cost £76,000 in 1980 cost £60,000 2 years later, a 22% reduction. A house which cost £116,00 in 1990, cost £70,000 five years later, a 40% reduction. What we have at present is an unprecedented over speculation on prices, the fall may even surpass the last 40% correction and make that £190,000 home worth only £95,000 in four years time.

Time to open up our data?

Canada has just adopted a free model for map data, great news for the citizens and business of Canada!

The UK (and EU!) really needs to follow Canada's lead, opening up access to Ordinance Survey map data too, in addition Post Code and address data which will empower citizens and create new businesses. So come on MPs, create the opportunity!

Double the budget doesn't quite equal success

There's a piece on the BBC today about a private company charging premium prices for TV and incoming/outgoing calls. Should these private companies really be given contracts which allow them to make so much money out of people in need?

Gordon brown has increased the UK budget from £320 Billion back in 1997 to £537 Billion for the coming year, well above inflation; the NHS alone now gets £104 Billion. The problem is the money hasn't been injected and spent well, leaving no real improvement in the last 10 years. Only middle management has swelled, managing targets etc, heading for a narrower pyramid base than ever before! Someone needs to slim down management and delegate more decisions to the doctors and nurses as it worked previously. Could experienced private medical managers help improve the organisation? Only consider managers with a proven track record, and make sure they have the remit to push through reforms.

Patients may be forced to get a mobile phone now, so this company will loose out in the end; but they've missed an opportunity provide a great service for people to pay a reasonable price for. Providing patients their mobile on silent that is a much more convenient too.

Regarding this price hike, it's the same situation with car parking, trusts are even pleased to announce record profits from their clients (the injured and the families)! The good thing is that the pendulum is swinging the other way slowly now -- next even prescriptions will be free again! NHS dentists costs are already better, their do need to be a lot more NHS dentists still though. Fun times ahead eh!?

Hopeless parliament.uk webmasters?

This is either a large problem, or very humorous that the parliament.uk, website has had a broken "Find your MP" link for the last four days.

Is it any wonder parliament.uk is out innovated by the likes of writetothem.com and upmystreet.com? We need an clever bunch of people to provide the parliament services to subjects of the UK, and it seems they don't have that at present! So c'mon parliamentarians, get on top of things!

Gordon Brown's legacy

Gordon Brown's 10 year stint at the tiller of the UK economy is almost over; but what is his legacy in this relatively stable period since the Major government of the mid-90s? An interesting question, even if I do say so myself ;)

We've seen how Gordon Brown has made a few changes, and used a lot of spin in his presentation. When he first came in, he introduced special rules:

1. Gordon Brown's first rule declares that over an "economic cycle" he will only borrow to invest, but that "economic cycle" term isn't fixed and is open to fiddling by his department of statisticians (first it was 7 years, then 9, 10 and now 12! increasing the duration to fiddle it, to average it out in effect); and that all other spending must come from taxation revenue.
2. Gordon Brown's second rule declared that public debt must be kept at a prudent and stable level (whatever that is, in a reasonable interpretation). The economy has been strong, so it's not been necessary to break rule two officially -- however, it has been heavily broken by using PFI contracts which hide the public debt behind a long-term contract with a private company.

The Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, highlighted that by Gordon Brown excluding Network Rail's billions of debt from the government accounts, Gordon Brown has not met his spending rules. He also said Gordon Brown's means-testing and constant meddling has put administration costs at a ridiculous level compared to the total cost of the benefit schemes introduced. Almost as bad as the £25 Billion PFI debts underwritten by the government.

In another case of subterfuge, Gordon Brown changed the way inflation rates are measured to keep them appearing lower. In his pre-budget statement on 10 Dec 2003, Gordon Brown announced he was switching the UK inflation definition from RPI (reasonably broad base, excluding mortgage though) to CPI (narrow), cleverly hiding our inflation rate going up. RPI inflation for February 2007 was 3.7%, but CPI was only... 2.8%! -- you can see why he wants to hide the rise, it keeps the Bank of England's monetary policy from setting interest rates (2% above inflation) at the higher rate they should be (as I figure it).

Pensions is a big one: Nothing was taken into account for the fact that people live longer. Nothing was taken into account for if the stock-market didn't continue to rise at a quick rate beyond the dot-com era. On top of this, abolishing share dividend tax credits (aka ACT, essentially no tax on dividends from companies in which they owned shares), took £6 Billion out of pension pots each year since 2000, which compounded means over £100 Billion has now been removed (No wonder over 60,000 company pension funds have been wound up!) -- what a result Gordon!

Public sector borrowing will probably hit £36 Billion this year, not surprisingly the treasury is desperate for cash and is offering great deals on NS&I fixed-term stock Government bonds these days. So much for prudence Gordon eh!? I'll admit I've never been one to Gordon Brown-Nose, but I don't put him down unnecessarily, his Bank of England call was a good one.

I've broken down my overall points into successes and failures.

Failures

• Not taking the UK into the Euro when they had the necessary public support in '97.
• Abolishing share dividend tax credits.
• The public pensions black hole is now close to £90 Billion, which will have to come from somewhere.
• Council tax doubled because Gordon Brown puts the responsibility for additional services on local council budgets (and central government keep blaming local councils for putting it up).
  
• Hiding the inflation rate, by switching from RPI to CPI.
  
• Selling the UK's gold reserves at rock bottom prices.

Successes

• Passing responsibility for setting interest rates to the Bank of England.

If Brown wanted a genuine legacy, he could have done a U-turn on means-testing, then increase the tax-free allowance to £12,000, making the poorest in society better off; closing the gap with the middle-class. Fund this by introducing a top tax rate of 45-50% if necessary. Or Brown could have voted against war with Iraq.

In summary, the economy hasn't been wrecked, but it doesn't have the GDP vigour it had in the Major years after the recovery from Black Wednesday. Gordon has squandered to a certain degree a fantastic legacy, replacing it with rampant consumer debt, a trade deficit, pensions crisis and pubic debt. Brown's kept the UK economy going on borrowed money, the next 15 years will show how in debt the UK is, and will suffer unfortunately. Will history give him a better legacy than William Patterson? Will Gordon have a Profumo moment? Would he give an honoury place to Boris Berezovsky around his cabinet table? Anyway, who knows what the future holds, if Gordon Brown gets the top job it will be interesting to see if he fairs better in No.10 at least! The BBC background on Brown's shows where he cut his teeth. Now let's hope the leadership election is a little more interesting than Michael Howard's coronation... ;)

Will Prince Charles bring an end to the Monarchy?

Will Prince Charles do for us what Parliament hasn't had the bottle to do so far? Europe has lost most of the monarchies which were around before WW1. Our little island has survived though; with our queen outlasting eight PMs by my calculation.

Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, is known to be a meddler though, and if he doesn't change when he gets the top job he might push things far enough for reform to finally take place. Sweden replaced the head of state with the speaker of the house, we could do something similar ;)

Would be an interesting situation if Parliament did want to remove King Charles III, as we don't have a written constitution and no real relevant historical pr