Richard Taylor

Tag: Openness

  • Asking Cambridge City Council To Routinely Release Results of Food Premises Inspections

    I attended Cambridge City Council’s Community Services Scrutiny Committee on the 14th of January 2010. I used the fact the city council allows members of the public to speak at council meetings to ask the Executive Councillor for Community Development and Health, councillor Clare Blair, about how the council makes the results of its inspections […]

  • Observing History – Heathrow Robbery Trial Starts Without Jury

    Observing History – Heathrow Robbery Trial Starts Without Jury Supporters of the defendants in the UK’s first modern criminal trial where a jury has been denied placed banners on the railings outside the Royal Courts of Justice. This morning I went to the Royal Courts of Justice to personally witness the start of the first […]

  • More Openness in Respect of UK Injuries in Afghanistan

    The response to a freedom of information request I made to the MoD reveals forty seven UK casualties injured in Afghanistan have suffered a traumatic or surgical amputation. I believe it is very important that the British public, and particularly MPs, are aware of the serious injuries which have been suffered by UK personnel in […]

  • Cambridge City Council Decide to Make a Huge Leap Forward In Terms of Openness and Transparency

    A buffet was provided for councillors and officers during a break in the meeting. I was hungry so I took up an offer of a sandwich. There were no professional press present. I guess I got the sandwich which would have otherwise been offered to them. (Photos of the meeting itsself were not permitted) I […]

  • Suggesting Improvements to Election Observation in the UK

    I sought accreditation as an electoral observer for the recent elections. Candidates and their agents can observe elements of the elections, and I was informally offered accreditation from a party to observe my local count, however I have no allegiance to any party and decided to follow a route administered by the Electoral Commission instead. […]

  • Concern About the Independent Monitoring Board at Oakington Immigration Removal Centre

    Just outside Cambridge over three hundred men are detained at the ex. RAF base at Oakington which is now an immigration removal centre. Those held include people waiting to be deported as well as those waiting for legal due-process to make decisions on their immigration status. Many have been released from prison to the centre. […]

  • IPCC Says Police Complaints System Flawed and Underfunded

    I observed Cambridgeshire Police Authority’s Professional Standards Committee on the 13th of May 2009 and watched Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) commissioner Len Jackson contribute to the committee’s discussions. Main points: 89% of complaints against the police are deemed “unsubstantiated”. According to the IPCC commissioner this is so high because the system is flawed and […]