Why doesn't Brown go the whole hog?

Steve L

He's simply barking.

Someone do the decent thing, please.

Billy Blofeld

Good - Brown can also make available on-line the "COINS Database" of government expenditure.

The list of crap in this article is about as useful as having access to data from the Cones Hotline.

Nick

Very simply because that will include data on politician's corruption

Holly ......

Why doesn't Brown just GO!
The HOG!

Walsingham's Ghost

"But if Brown wants to go down this route, why doesn’t he do what the Tories are proposing and introduce a public right to data, allowing people to get the data sets they need rather than just those that ministers wants to give them?"

Because the only data that will be offered up to the public by Ministers will be be stats. that have been safely sanitised or massaged. Surely you don't expect him to allow the public to CHOOSE what data sets they get to look at, do you? I'm afraid that sinply won't do at all...

Richard Nabavi

Does Mr Brown not realise that January starts in less than six working weeks, and that getting 2,000 datasets on-line in that time is about as practical as abolishing Boom and Bust?

fourmenterian

All well and good if government spending were under control but in the midst of what is shaping to be a double dip recession, when is the penny going to drop that these 'initiatives' are not a priority. It really is desperate stuff - did Gordon get the idea of another revenue-raising ploy from hearing about T-Mobile today

thedarknight

It seems Labour's strategy is to announce as theirs as much of the Tories' policies as their left will let them get away with, whilst painting the Tories as nasty out of touch fops. Thereby they hope to leave the electorate with a choice between two sets of people with similar policies and hope the old hatred of the Tories will see them through.

Tankus

It is another partisan act, making bad figure's harder to hide by an incoming government .

I expect the older figures will have been massaged.

Just making any successive government with out gordon in , just that little bit more difficult to run .

Cost ? £0.5m per data set perhaps ?
Although someone's bound to leave a laptop on a train !

Tankus

I want to see Tony's expense claims. That's the data that needs to be seen !

Watt Tyler

Because it is about controlliing perceptions, and controlling expectations.

For the past 12 years, Liebour have been very good at this, but it gets to a stage where the reality no longer resembles the picture created by such management. This is the stage we are at, and it is why Liebour have been losing support. What they need to do to win the election is to get on top of reality-control again.

Will it work? Well, if the number of people who started crying because Gollum was attacked for sending a completely innapropriate letter to a bereaved mother was anything to go by, yes it could.

Graham Clark

Pa Broone, like his 'Neues Partie Der Arbeit' (New Labour) are all barking!!

They appear to be mostly divorced from reality. But then Dear Leader Broone has to visit 347 Tractor Factories before Christmas (Oops, sorry that has been banned), and formulate 2,000 'Five Year Plans' before Easter 2010 (Oops, that too has been banned).

From the Man who 'Saved the World', and 'Abolished Bust' it beggars belief that they are still pushing out major policy changes when they will all be queuing up at the nearest Jobcentre for shelf stacking jobs at ''Tescos'. Assuming that we, the Peasants of the UK will be allowed a general election in March or May of 2010.

Oh well, back to polishing turds....!!

(Uncle Vanya)

Amadeus Plonquer

So we're to get driving and farm numbers are we?

Somewhere in here is a strong whiff of 'tractor statistics'. Or am I just being cynical?

Number7

More Bol***ks From McBruin and the rest of ZanuLieBore!

Scotched Earth!

Let's rebuild Hadrian's Wall!

He's coming in from the blind side again! (reference to rugby before all the PC brigade start screaming)

There's only two good things have ever come out of Scotland:-

Whiskey - And The Road South!

Nuff Said!!!

Gareth

I suspect this is a bit of a wheeze. There is loads of info already online but it is not coherently integrated or for that matter, publicised.

Want a database of legislation? We've already got www.opsi.gov.uk and www.statutelaw.gov.uk.

winston Place

All this costs money.Will the tap ever be turned off by this shower.
What we want is a massive reduction of goverment.

Michael Booth

Smoke and mirrors - if you give the public access to some information, which you dress-up as "all-important" and crow about "open-government and democracy", they might just not ask to see the really important mind-blowing stuff which government has been quietly collecting over the years.

Data is big business and the exchange of data makes money. How about a sneaky little Bill introduced that requires government to pay each individual a set sum of money for each year they hold onto personal data? Could be a good response to Alan Johnson's fudging of the EU ruling on data. Ah, but who would pass such a Bill? Not the H of C as presently constituted I fear, and Bullingdon Dave has probably got his eye on the data files himself. Oh well, one can perhaps dream of living in a free and open society...

peter

And to think we will have put up with another 6 months or so of this sort of drivel. God, please let us be rid of the man!

Naomi Muse

It's all hot air.

Don't take any notice.

Our Queen has to read this rubbish and it's all politicking to appeal to potential voters, nothing to do with reality. The PM should show her more respect.

Clean up politics should be the watchword and focus, nothing more, nothing less.

Most of the incumbents will be voted out whether they are any good or not unless the whole shooting match is cleaned up and seen to be cleaned up quickly.

Chris lancashire

If the Board of a major plc had just announced let's say a £1bn loss then the shareholders would expect the Board to concentrate on one thing and not be announcing useless, peripheral initiatives.

Let us see Labour plans for cutting the defecit not farm statistics.

Housekeeper

"... road traffic counts from last eight years; all legislation on a database for the first time; property prices listed with stamp duty yield; all motoring offences with the type of offence and the numbers, by county, for the top six offences. Farm survey data would also be available."

Can anybody explain why I would need such historic data at any time? And if I do, isn't there a Freedom of Information Act to ensure that I can access RELEVANT information should I need it?

The Bellman

"A smarter, more efficient and more responsive government."

HM The Queen could achieve that by sacking the current shower en masse and appointing the cast of 'In the night garden' to run the country.

Andy

"A smarter, more efficient and more responsive government." Not until Labour is history, it won't be!

Gareth

Just to add,

You can already get property prices from the Land Registry and houseprices.co.uk and with a simple calculation work out the stamp duty yourself.

The very detailed list of data due to be 'published' suggests much of it is already in place. Why specifically say 8 years of traffic data? Or specify 6 motoring offences? Want traffic data - try trafficengland.co.uk. Like I suggested earlier, it is probably all already available.