Uncovered: The Public Bodies Snooping On You

The Department for Transport is among a range of public organisations that has paid private firms to spy on its behalf, while it has been claimed some 14 bodies, including 10 councils, may have commissioned potentially illegal surveillance.

The findings, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by civil liberties and privacy campaigners Big Brother Watch (BBW), showed that £3.9m has been spent by public bodies in the last two years on paying private investigators for surveillance work -including snooping on their own staff.

A total of  29 organisations - 27 councils, one public authority and one government department, the DfT - paid private firms to undertake surveillance using powers under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) in the years 2010/11 and 2011/12.

But some 14 organisations - 10 councils and four public authorities - paid private firms to undertake surveillance that was not covered by Ripa - meaning they commissioned potentially illegal activity.

Two public authorities and two councils paid other public bodies to spy on their behalf at a cost of £7,600, while four councils - Caerphilly, Dudley, Leicestershire and York - used private investigators to monitor their own staff.

BBW director Nick Pickles said: "This research has uncovered cases where it looks like the law has not been followed and it's essential they are urgently investigated.

"Unlike the US, British law isn't strong enough to stop evidence obtained by illegal surveillance being used in court and the punishments for people deliberately flouting the law are trivial.

Eric Pickles says councils which have flouted the law should face justice

"We need a proper licensing system for private investigators, reformed laws to stop unauthorised surveillance being used in court and most importantly to replace the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act with legislation that is fit for purpose."

City of York Council denied using private investigators and said it had used an external fraud team.

BBW has recommended urgent reform of Ripa to protect against unauthorised surveillance by third parties.

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 should be strengthened to stop unauthorised surveillance by raising the bar about what evidence can be used in legal proceedings, BBW recommended.

The group also wants private investigator licensing to be strengthened and a duty to regulate contracted investigators to be introduced.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: "This Government has clamped down on the overuse and abuse of surveillance powers by town halls.

"Such powers can only be used for serious crimes, and require a magistrates' warrant. It is totally unacceptable if councils are trying to sidestep these important new checks and they should be held to account for acting outside the law."

00.35 | 0 komentar | Read More

Archbishop Of Canterbury: I Don't Drink Alone

The new Archbishop of Canterbury has revealed he never drinks alone for fear of becoming an alcoholic like his father.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said while he does enjoy a tipple, his wife keeps an eye on his drinking to make sure he does not have one too many.

Asked if he was teetotal in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, he replied: "No, absolutely not. I very much enjoy a drink.

"I remember reading that the children of alcoholics have a much better chance themselves of having a dependency problem.

"So Caroline and I have an agreement that she keeps an eye on me, so she'll say if I am going over ... but I have rules myself. I don't drink alone, things like that."

He described his father, Gavin Welby, who died in 1977, as "charming, volatile, unpredictable".

"You never knew what was going to happen," he said.

"It took me a long time after he died to ... think back over my time with him with any equanimity. It had just been all so painful."

Asked if this was because his behaviour was conditioned by his drink problem, he continued: "Yes, very erratic behaviour, very irrational, dishonesty, shouting ... then, of course, one worries how much of this is how one's going to behave oneself."

The Most Rev Welby was named as Dr Rowan Williams' successor in November and is due to be enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury in a service at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday.

The father-of-five resigned as an oil executive in 1987 after 11 years in the industry to train for the Anglican priesthood.

00.35 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police Release 87 After Town Centre Fracas

More than 80 people arrested in the build-up to a football match have been released on bail.

Warwickshire Police Inspector Darren Webster said 87 people had now been released on police bail while enquiries continue.

The arrests were in connection with alleged "violent disorder" ahead of a non-league fixture between home side Nuneaton Town and Lincoln City on Saturday afternoon.

Insp Webster said: "Everyone has now been bailed in connection with the incident. The senior investigating officer will now evaluate what action needs to be taken."

Riot police from three forces and the British Transport Police were called to deal with reports of trouble at several pubs in Nuneaton shortly before 10.30am.

Officers from Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands Police forces then began arresting dozens of people on suspicion of violent disorder at The Granby pub in the town centre from 3.20pm.

Chief Inspector Adrian Knight, in charge of the policing operation, said it had been "a particularly challenging day".

"Police officers responded to reports of disorder at a number of public houses in the town and were deployed in full protective equipment for their own safety," he said.

Nuneaton Town chief executive Ian Neale said the trouble was nothing to do with the football club or its supporters.

Mr Neale said police went to The Granby pub to organise an escort to town for Nuneaton fans but only three people said they were interested in going to the match.

Police from several forces took part in the Nuneaton operation

He said: "They were allowed to leave the pub to take a taxi to the ground, which is two miles away from where the arrests were made.

The Granby had opened in December after the former venue was redecorated and had promoted Saturday lunchtime as "family time".

After the incident staff thanked its normal patrons on its Facebook page.

"Just time to say a massive thank you for all your words of support and thank you to everyone who came down to show that we will continue and become better from it," it said.

Supporters responded with their own messages of support.

Jackie King wrote: "Hey, these so called 'footie fans' may have done u a favour - people'll be flocking in to show support."

After Saturday's incident in the town centre, Nuneaton went on to win the Blue Square Bet Premier League fixture 1-0.

00.35 | 0 komentar | Read More

Leveson: Grant And Rowling Attack Cameron

Hugh Grant has urged MPs to back the Liberal Democrat and Labour plan for press regulation as he accused David Cameron of "sucking up" to press barons.

The Notting Hill actor, who is leading the Hacked Off campaign for stringent press controls in the wake of the hacking scandal, claimed on Sky News that the Prime Minister was turning his back on the victims.

Mr Cameron suddenly pulled out of cross-party talks about implementing Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations last week, declaring that the three main party leaders were too far apart.

The Tories are firmly opposed to any statutory regulation of the press and want a system backed by a Royal Charter.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats also want a Royal Charter but crucially their plan would be underpinned in legislation - raising fears about creeping restrictions on the freedom of the press.

MPs will now vote on the Tories' plans on Monday in what could turn into a major defeat for Mr Cameron as Labour and the Lib Dems look certain to unite against him, with Tory rebels also crossing the floor.

Before Mr Cameron's decision on Thursday, Grant had been personally speaking to members of the shadow cabinet to urge them not to reach an agreement "much too early".

David Cameron is battling to avoid any statutory regulation

But he dismissed the idea that Hacked off was a "smooth sinister operation", downplaying it as a "few dandruffy professors in a cheap office with a slightly insane, chess champion ex-Lib Dem MP and a couple of threadbare lawyers and me".

The actor said ordinary victims of press abuse had reacted with "horror and astonishment" to Mr Cameron's behaviour and accused him of breaking his word.

On Sky's Murnaghan show, he claimed: "For him, politically, it was more important to suck up to the newspapers than to fulfil the promise that he made under oath.

"(He said) that what mattered as an outcome to all this was that those victims should never be subject to those kind of abuses again."

He described the vote as "incredibly important" and said politicians would have to "ask their consciences" whether they were going to side with press barons or back the victims.

Grant added that his acting career, which sees him star in the upcoming film Cloud Atlas, is now less important than his campaigning to curb the excesses of the press.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling also spoke out on Sunday, saying in a statement that Mr Cameron's actions had left her feeling "hung out to dry".

"Monday's vote will make history one way or another - I am merely one among many turning their eyes towards Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg and hoping that they have the courage to do what Cameron promised, but which he failed to deliver," she said.

The Prime Minister has said he will abide by the will of Parliament

Author JK Rowling giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry in 2011

Without an overall Commons majority, his allies accept he is unlikely to win sufficient support for using the threat of punitive damages against non-participants to persuade papers to sign up.

Despite efforts to shore up the vote - including bringing a minister back from Japan - a number of Tories are expected to back the Lib/Lab proposals.

Earlier on Murnaghan, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes suggested as many as 60 Conservatives could side with Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

Chancellor George Osborne expressed hope of a last-minute deal, warning that any regulatory system that did not have cross-party support would not last.

"We want to make sure we have a system of press regulation that prevents the abuses we saw in the past happening again, but also makes sure we have a free press in this country," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"That is such a precious thing: people fought - and literally died - to give us a free press."

Mr Miliband wrote in the The Observer that Monday was "the day that politics has got to do the duty by the victims and has got to stand up for the victims".

Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman told Murnaghan: "I think it is absolutely a straightforward issue - across the House of Commons the feeling is it is not right for the press not be accountable to a proper code of conduct.

"It is time for a proper tough regulator and that we don't slip back to what it was like before. We don't want ministers to tamper with the royal charter and change it afterwards - it can't be weakened down or toughened up later. And it must have teeth."

00.35 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pregnant Kate Attends St Patrick's Day Parade

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have braved wet weather to attend a St Patrick's Day parade at a military barracks.

Kate, who is five months pregnant, wore the same green dress coat she wore to the event last year to meet soldiers from the Ist Battalion Irish Guards at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Prince William wore ceremonial dress as the pair stood on a podium sheltered from the rain and listened to the National Anthem.

The Duchess presented traditional sprigs of shamrock to the officers and guardsmen, and also to her husband.

Afterwards, the royal couple chatted to soldiers in the Guardsmens' cookhouse.

At one point the Duchess had to free her heel from a drain

Guardsman Lee Wheeler, 29, said: "I was talking to her about the baby, of course. I asked her 'do you know if it's a girl or boy', and she said 'not yet'.

"She said 'I'd like to have a boy and William would like a girl'. That's always the way.

"I asked her if she had any names yet and she said no. I said I suppose you've got to stick to traditional names."

The presentation of shamrocks by a senior female member of the royal family is a century-old tradition which was started by Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, in 1901.

The role was famously carried out by the Queen Mother.

Kate, who wore a black hat with her hair up, finished off her outfit with black tights and heels.

Ahead of watching the parade the Duchess suffered an embarrassing mishap when the heel of one of her shoes became stuck in a drain.

Kate had to lean on William while she pulled it out with her hand.

The last sprig of shamrock was given to the regiment's new mascot, seven-month-old Irish wolfhound Domhnall, who was carrying out his first public engagement.

The royals looked on from the podium as about 200 soldiers paraded through the puddle-strewn square, bringing a splash of colour to the occasion in their full ceremonial uniform of scarlet tunics and bearskins.

They were led by the Band of the Irish Guards.

00.34 | 0 komentar | Read More

Uncovered: The Public Bodies Snooping On You

The Department for Transport is among a range of public organisations that has paid private firms to spy on its behalf, while it has been claimed some 14 bodies, including 10 councils, may have commissioned potentially illegal surveillance.

The findings, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by civil liberties and privacy campaigners Big Brother Watch (BBW), showed that £3.9m has been spent by public bodies in the last two years on paying private investigators for surveillance work -including snooping on their own staff.

A total of  29 organisations - 27 councils, one public authority and one government department, the DfT - paid private firms to undertake surveillance using powers under Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) in the years 2010/11 and 2011/12.

But some 14 organisations - 10 councils and four public authorities - paid private firms to undertake surveillance that was not covered by Ripa - meaning they commissioned potentially illegal activity.

Two public authorities and two councils paid other public bodies to spy on their behalf at a cost of £7,600, while four councils - Caerphilly, Dudley, Leicestershire and York - used private investigators to monitor their own staff.

BBW director Nick Pickles said: "This research has uncovered cases where it looks like the law has not been followed and it's essential they are urgently investigated.

"Unlike the US, British law isn't strong enough to stop evidence obtained by illegal surveillance being used in court and the punishments for people deliberately flouting the law are trivial.

Eric Pickles says councils which have flouted the law should face justice

"We need a proper licensing system for private investigators, reformed laws to stop unauthorised surveillance being used in court and most importantly to replace the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act with legislation that is fit for purpose."

City of York Council denied using private investigators and said it had used an external fraud team.

BBW has recommended urgent reform of Ripa to protect against unauthorised surveillance by third parties.

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 should be strengthened to stop unauthorised surveillance by raising the bar about what evidence can be used in legal proceedings, BBW recommended.

The group also wants private investigator licensing to be strengthened and a duty to regulate contracted investigators to be introduced.

Communities secretary Eric Pickles said: "This Government has clamped down on the overuse and abuse of surveillance powers by town halls.

"Such powers can only be used for serious crimes, and require a magistrates' warrant. It is totally unacceptable if councils are trying to sidestep these important new checks and they should be held to account for acting outside the law."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Archbishop Of Canterbury: I Don't Drink Alone

The new Archbishop of Canterbury has revealed he never drinks alone for fear of becoming an alcoholic like his father.

The Most Rev Justin Welby said while he does enjoy a tipple, his wife keeps an eye on his drinking to make sure he does not have one too many.

Asked if he was teetotal in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, he replied: "No, absolutely not. I very much enjoy a drink.

"I remember reading that the children of alcoholics have a much better chance themselves of having a dependency problem.

"So Caroline and I have an agreement that she keeps an eye on me, so she'll say if I am going over ... but I have rules myself. I don't drink alone, things like that."

He described his father, Gavin Welby, who died in 1977, as "charming, volatile, unpredictable".

"You never knew what was going to happen," he said.

"It took me a long time after he died to ... think back over my time with him with any equanimity. It had just been all so painful."

Asked if this was because his behaviour was conditioned by his drink problem, he continued: "Yes, very erratic behaviour, very irrational, dishonesty, shouting ... then, of course, one worries how much of this is how one's going to behave oneself."

The Most Rev Welby was named as Dr Rowan Williams' successor in November and is due to be enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury in a service at Canterbury Cathedral on Thursday.

The father-of-five resigned as an oil executive in 1987 after 11 years in the industry to train for the Anglican priesthood.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Leveson: Grant And Rowling Attack Cameron

Hugh Grant has urged MPs to back the Liberal Democrat and Labour plan for press regulation as he accused David Cameron of "sucking up" to press barons.

The Notting Hill actor, who is leading the Hacked Off campaign for stringent press controls in the wake of the hacking scandal, claimed on Sky News that the Prime Minister was turning his back on the victims.

Mr Cameron suddenly pulled out of cross-party talks about implementing Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations last week, declaring that the three main party leaders were too far apart.

The Tories are firmly opposed to any statutory regulation of the press and want a system backed by a Royal Charter.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats also want a Royal Charter but crucially their plan would be underpinned in legislation - raising fears about creeping restrictions on the freedom of the press.

MPs will now vote on the Tories' plans on Monday in what could turn into a major defeat for Mr Cameron as Labour and the Lib Dems look certain to unite against him, with Tory rebels also crossing the floor.

Before Mr Cameron's decision on Thursday, Grant had been personally speaking to members of the shadow cabinet to urge them not to reach an agreement "much too early".

David Cameron is battling to avoid any statutory regulation

But he dismissed the idea that Hacked off was a "smooth sinister operation", downplaying it as a "few dandruffy professors in a cheap office with a slightly insane, chess champion ex-Lib Dem MP and a couple of threadbare lawyers and me".

The actor said ordinary victims of press abuse had reacted with "horror and astonishment" to Mr Cameron's behaviour and accused him of breaking his word.

On Sky's Murnaghan show, he claimed: "For him, politically, it was more important to suck up to the newspapers than to fulfil the promise that he made under oath.

"(He said) that what mattered as an outcome to all this was that those victims should never be subject to those kind of abuses again."

He described the vote as "incredibly important" and said politicians would have to "ask their consciences" whether they were going to side with press barons or back the victims.

Grant added that his acting career, which sees him star in the upcoming film Cloud Atlas, is now less important than his campaigning to curb the excesses of the press.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling also spoke out on Sunday, saying in a statement that Mr Cameron's actions had left her feeling "hung out to dry".

"Monday's vote will make history one way or another - I am merely one among many turning their eyes towards Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg and hoping that they have the courage to do what Cameron promised, but which he failed to deliver," she said.

The Prime Minister has said he will abide by the will of Parliament

Author JK Rowling giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry in 2011

Without an overall Commons majority, his allies accept he is unlikely to win sufficient support for using the threat of punitive damages against non-participants to persuade papers to sign up.

Despite efforts to shore up the vote - including bringing a minister back from Japan - a number of Tories are expected to back the Lib/Lab proposals.

Earlier on Murnaghan, Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes suggested as many as 60 Conservatives could side with Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

Chancellor George Osborne expressed hope of a last-minute deal, warning that any regulatory system that did not have cross-party support would not last.

"We want to make sure we have a system of press regulation that prevents the abuses we saw in the past happening again, but also makes sure we have a free press in this country," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show.

"That is such a precious thing: people fought - and literally died - to give us a free press."

Mr Miliband wrote in the The Observer that Monday was "the day that politics has got to do the duty by the victims and has got to stand up for the victims".

Shadow culture secretary Harriet Harman told Murnaghan: "I think it is absolutely a straightforward issue - across the House of Commons the feeling is it is not right for the press not be accountable to a proper code of conduct.

"It is time for a proper tough regulator and that we don't slip back to what it was like before. We don't want ministers to tamper with the royal charter and change it afterwards - it can't be weakened down or toughened up later. And it must have teeth."

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Pregnant Kate Attends St Patrick's Day Parade

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have braved wet weather to attend a St Patrick's Day parade at a military barracks.

Kate, who is five months pregnant, wore the same green dress coat she wore to the event last year to meet soldiers from the Ist Battalion Irish Guards at Mons Barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire.

Prince William wore ceremonial dress as the pair stood on a podium sheltered from the rain and listened to the National Anthem.

The Duchess presented traditional sprigs of shamrock to the officers and guardsmen, and also to her husband.

Afterwards, the royal couple chatted to soldiers in the Guardsmens' cookhouse.

At one point the Duchess had to free her heel from a drain

Guardsman Lee Wheeler, 29, said: "I was talking to her about the baby, of course. I asked her 'do you know if it's a girl or boy', and she said 'not yet'.

"She said 'I'd like to have a boy and William would like a girl'. That's always the way.

"I asked her if she had any names yet and she said no. I said I suppose you've got to stick to traditional names."

The presentation of shamrocks by a senior female member of the royal family is a century-old tradition which was started by Queen Alexandra, the wife of Edward VII, in 1901.

The role was famously carried out by the Queen Mother.

Kate, who wore a black hat with her hair up, finished off her outfit with black tights and heels.

Ahead of watching the parade the Duchess suffered an embarrassing mishap when the heel of one of her shoes became stuck in a drain.

Kate had to lean on William while she pulled it out with her hand.

The last sprig of shamrock was given to the regiment's new mascot, seven-month-old Irish wolfhound Domhnall, who was carrying out his first public engagement.

The royals looked on from the podium as about 200 soldiers paraded through the puddle-strewn square, bringing a splash of colour to the occasion in their full ceremonial uniform of scarlet tunics and bearskins.

They were led by the Band of the Irish Guards.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More

Police Release 87 After Town Centre Fracas

More than 80 people arrested in the build-up to a football match have been released on bail.

Warwickshire Police Inspector Darren Webster said 87 people had now been released on police bail while enquiries continue.

The arrests were in connection with alleged "violent disorder" ahead of a non-league fixture between home side Nuneaton Town and Lincoln City on Saturday afternoon.

Insp Webster said: "Everyone has now been bailed in connection with the incident. The senior investigating officer will now evaluate what action needs to be taken."

Riot police from three forces and the British Transport Police were called to deal with reports of trouble at several pubs in Nuneaton shortly before 10.30am.

Officers from Warwickshire, West Mercia and West Midlands Police forces then began arresting dozens of people on suspicion of violent disorder at The Granby pub in the town centre from 3.20pm.

Chief Inspector Adrian Knight, in charge of the policing operation, said it had been "a particularly challenging day".

"Police officers responded to reports of disorder at a number of public houses in the town and were deployed in full protective equipment for their own safety," he said.

Nuneaton Town chief executive Ian Neale said the trouble was nothing to do with the football club or its supporters.

Mr Neale said police went to The Granby pub to organise an escort to town for Nuneaton fans but only three people said they were interested in going to the match.

Police from several forces took part in the Nuneaton operation

He said: "They were allowed to leave the pub to take a taxi to the ground, which is two miles away from where the arrests were made.

The Granby had opened in December after the former venue was redecorated and had promoted Saturday lunchtime as "family time".

After the incident staff thanked its normal patrons on its Facebook page.

"Just time to say a massive thank you for all your words of support and thank you to everyone who came down to show that we will continue and become better from it," it said.

Supporters responded with their own messages of support.

Jackie King wrote: "Hey, these so called 'footie fans' may have done u a favour - people'll be flocking in to show support."

After Saturday's incident in the town centre, Nuneaton went on to win the Blue Square Bet Premier League fixture 1-0.

22.11 | 0 komentar | Read More