2 posts tagged “technology”

It looks to me that the Lib Dems are being left behind by the Tories and Labour when it comes to new technology.

As far as I can see, nobody at Cowley Street or the Shadow Cabinet. even a junior minister has any knowledge, remit or portfolio for Information and Communication, while even labour has Lord Carter of Barnes, as the Communications Minister.

Lynne Featherstone now has a job championing e-campaigning, but nobody is doing an iota about technology policy - try getting a policy from any MP on any loosely technical subject and with the honorable exception of John Pugh MP, few of them will know anything about the Internet beyond that 'facebook is popular, and I click the little blue icon to get the internet'.

Something is very wrong indeed when how to use technology to win some council seats or discuss speed limits in some village in somerset, has a load of priority and publicity, but how to turn around public sector waste and failure on IT projects and spending, or how we should handle the problems of governance of nominet and the UK TLD, or how we should be shaping the future of communications and technology through groups like BSI, ICANN and ITU or the UN are unmentioned, unheard of and those in charge of the party and policy are utterly clueless about them.

This week both the Tories and Labour have come out with Policies and Reports, The Lib Dems have done zip, nada, zilch in the last decade in this area and our new president with all her talk of reform and modernity hasn't made a sound on the subject.

Colour me very unimpressed.

I get mailshots asking me to write software for free to help campaigners - I don't see many other professions providing pretty expensive services for free, and certainly not when they have absolutely zero representation or input in policy!

I already commit enough time writing open source software that I'll actually use, I'd even consider writing code for worthwhile projects like MySociety, but Cowley Street is happy to shell out a fortune for expensive marketing experts and people to cold call and ask for yet more cash again for a bunch of faceless councillors I never hear from... *sigh*

... after nearly 18 months of it being noticed and raised as an issue at our local Linux User Group, and numerous complaints since it still doesn't work in anything apart from internet explorer. (http://www.chooseandbook.nhs.uk/patients/faqs/techissue) - what a complete farce. Apparently it's a good thing that a whole two thirds of UK users can actually use the site! idiots!

I keep on saying that the Liberal Democrats need a minister, or at least spokesperson, for ICT - maybe Nick Clegg really will realise that a role considered essential in every boardroom is missing from his cabinet - but I doubt it, the westminister village is still too distant from the real world where we actually have to make things work to pay the mortgage.

There is more than enough work to justify a minister for ICT, the lack of such a minister in the cabinet of any of our national parties is negligent - all three parties have been very poorly briefed on the technical issues of both RFID Passports, and ID Cards and certainly have no idea at all about who nominet are, let alone have any idea of the simple steps needed to enforce the law when it comes to crime on the internet.