Among yesterday’s front pages was a data visualisation which, at first glance, was one of the most effective I’ve ever seen: the Independent had made an infographic showing yesterday’s £6bn budget cuts in context - as a fraction of a debt mountain.
Then I looked closer - and something’s very, very wrong.
Can you tell what it […]
Help Me Investigate is - quite simply - fantastic. It’s a site designed to help people collaberate on investigations, usually based around questions. An early question was “on which Birmingham streets are the most parking tickets issued?”. And it’s been answered in style.
Heather Brooke used Freedom of Information to get hold of the full record […]
Gathered the below information for the excellent - and newly out of beta - helpmeinvestigate.com . Unfortunately, a gremlin in the system stopped this post appearing over there. So it’s here.
Right, here’s a round up of what’s out there through FOI so far - this is a frequently-FOI’d topic. Here’s what’re released - and what […]
Nigel Farrage and his UK Independence Party are keen to spout how 75% of the UK’s laws are made in the European Parliament (dubious itself - guesstimates vary from 9% to 85%).
So it’s odd, then, that they put in so little effort in the EU parliament. On Thursday, Farrage told the BBC Question Time audience […]
As of this week, 37% of us hadn’t yet had our faith in politicians eroded by the expenses furore. David Cameron’s working to fix that. At the rate he’s going, it should be down to 10% inside a week.
He hasn’t been caught using his expenses to shampoo his drawbridge, or wax his puppies, or whatever […]
Well, since I’ve had such a long absence it seemed sensible to have a rejig before returning. This is a work in progress - hoping to be back soon.
Earlier today a long-overdue FOI response from Strathclyde police landed in my inbox - a mere 33 days past the legal time limit for response. This was, I’m told, “due to the way the relevant information is recorded on our [Strathclyde’s] various systems”.
Excellent - when I hand over my tax return late, I’m sure […]
Police forces across the UK are spending £39m each year on press and PR officers - enough to fund an extra 1,400 full time officers. The highest spending forces spend more than eight times more per person than the lowest, and FOI spending is suffering by comparison: the police spend nearly ten times more on […]
…and we’re back. Blame exam-time. Normal service resumes today.
In the spirit of using this blog as a repository for all sorts of random things I’ve written, look over here for a report on a row between Bermuda’s Government and largest paper, sparked by a Freedom of Information campaign.
Hurrah! Another journalism prize bagged. Poynter Online ran a competition looking for six-word journalism mottos, and after yet another Floridian voting scandal, one of mine was a runner-up. They’re all online here, and well worth a browse.
My entry, since you ask: “Curiosity: kills cats, pays our wages”