Internet Psychologist
Alistair Darling’s latest budget was brilliant – at least that’s what you think if your name is Gordon Brown. The body language at the Dispatch Box yesterday was remarkable. As soon as the Right Honourable Member for Edinburgh South West had delivered his budget speech, his boss from Number 10 …
Facebook is to be used by the British Government in a bid to deal with terrorism. People often ask “who is looking at my Facebook page?” – well now we know, Gordon Brown’s henchmen. They plan to monitor every conversation on Facebook because it is “needed to tackle crime gangs …
From today, Internet users in the UK will be monitored more than ever by the British Government. Beware the Ides of March, all politicians are told, but that’s exactly when the new European law on email monitoring takes place. It will inevitably fail. The scam being put upon all of …
Where do they get their information from in Government? Are they secretly living in some underground colony where the world is different to the one you and I live in? Or are they all so gullible they fall for anything anyone with a sharp suit tells them? Take today – …
Andy Burnham, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has shown, yet again, that Government fails to understand the Internet. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph he proposed that web sites should only be published once they have cinema style ratings so that parents would know what …
Economists always disagree; put three of them in a phone box and they’ll come out with four different opinions. The thing is, economists would like us to think they run a “science” (indeed you can study “economic science” at university), but actually it’s all guesswork. Admittedly it’s reasonably educated guesswork, …
So, it’s election day in the USA – and the world awaits the decision of the voters. Will it be McCain or Obama? The latest polls put Obama ahead by at least 5%. Already this is being hailed as the election that was won online. There are plenty of election …
Today is National Get Online Day – honest…! It’s an initiative from the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. Mmmm. There’s the first mistake – to separate universities and skills from the Department of Education (now called the Department for Children Schools and Families). Do you get the picture? Here’s …
The UK’s Children’s Minister was launching the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS)yesterday. In essence, it seems a good idea, but as ever the politicians have failed to think deeply enough. We already have the Internet Watch Foundation and the NSPCC, which does significant amounts of work for children …
So, Whitehouse-hopeful Sarah Palin has had her email account attacked by hackers. It’s no surprise that some people might want to do this; after all she represents an extreme viewpoint in the USA. What is surprising and troubling is that a public figure had two email accounts on a public …
Everton fan Andy Burnham is “in charge” of the media in the UK since he is the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. However, rumours reach me that he is considering setting up the equivalent of the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) for the Internet. The PCC is an …
European politicians don’t always have a good reputation. They are perceived as a bunch of people who just chat, cost money and don’t have any real powers. But they have made a decision which will be significant as far as the Internet is concerned. The European Parliament has voted out …
Let’s get this straight – sexual offences are abhorrent; I am in no way a defender of people who have committed sex crimes. As a psychologist, though, I’m aware that many of them are victims themselves, having been abused as children. But the Government rightly wants to clamp down on …
Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Education in the UK, wants “cyberbullying” of teachers to be a disciplinary offence. Apparently, school pupils sometimes ridicule their teachers in online chat rooms and on social networking sites. Well knock me down with a feather, there’s a shock. Look, Mr Balls, children …
Alistair Darling’s first budget didn’t make good reading for anyone who drinks, smokes, drives cars or goes shopping. If you’re a 90-year-old clean-living, self-sufficient hermit, though, you’ll be OK as you’re getting a heating handout. Year in, year out Chancellors produce budgets that we all moan about. And every year …