John Hemming's Web Log

I thought it was worthwhile putting a post on my blog that looks at the votes relating to this particular bill (during some of which votes I have rebelled and during others of which I have not). Firstly there is a statutory instrument: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/859/schedule/made This is The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 No. 859  under this SI phone companies are required to hold certain information about phone calls and ISPs are supposed to keep track of who has what IP address.   Obviously this has been in place since 2009 and prior to that date other rules existed as to recording certain information relating to calls and internet access. Obviously there are advantages to law enforcement in being able to get information about particular accounts and phone calls.  This was, in fact, used as part of the Aston Election Petition back in 2005 so although I don't know precisely what information was retained prior to 2009 it is clear that some inf

I have been asked what actions I have taken recently in respect of the dispute in the middle east. I wrote to the Secretary of State on 2nd July concerned about the disproportionate response of the Israeli Government to the murders of three Israeli youths. I issued a public statement at the demonstration in the City Centre on Friday 15th July. "Collective punishment was one of the more reviled acts of the Nazis in the second world war.  If we wish to bring greater peace in the world then we need to avoid escalating disputes between groups of people.  The use of techniques which are akin to collective punishment are not a step in the direction of peace and should be condemned as against international humanitarian law (Rule 103)." I spoke at a meeting on Saturday 16th July.  I explained at that meeting that the murder of innocents was not on the pathway to peace as it increased anger. I have also signed a number of Early Day Motions relevant to the issues in rece

I did an interview on BBC world at one yesterday about the general discussion about the abuse of children in the care system. There are many stories about Elm Guest House . However, I have been concentrating on more recent issues. There remain survivors of what has happened in the past. These people have been ignored for many years, but more recently they have been listened to. To me it is very important not only to deal with what happened in the past, but also to look at what is happening today. A point that has not been looked properly at is the disappearance of children from Care. We had the recent reports from Ireland about the deaths of children being concealed. I believe that this also happened at Haut de la Garenne. To me it seems quite straightforward that if we are sufficiently concerned about money that we should count the money and audit it, we should also count the children and audit what happens to them. Even today children are disappearing from care for var