Home Secretary blames drinking on TV for all the country's ills

From the Telegraph see full article

Television programmes that glorify drunkenness will be branded unacceptable as part of a "zero-tolerance" approach to anti-social behaviour, Jacqui Smith has announced.

The Home Secretary began a campaign to shame television companies into taking the programmes off-air, saying they encourage alcohol misuse.

Alcohol misuse can cause real damage to people, she told the Labour conference. And incidentally, why celebrate drunken behaviour on our television screens?

Her aides made clear that there were no plans to legislate or regulate, with the aim being to shame programme makers into realising that they were damaging young people's lives.

Ibiza Uncovered, which is shown on Sky television, follows the drinking and other antics of young people on holiday and Booze Britain, which is produced by Granada and shown on Bravo, follows groups of mainly young people "on the town".

In 2003, the charity Alcohol Concern warned that soap characters were seen drinking too often in television pubs. It said scenes on television involving drinking had almost doubled since the 1980s.

 
Violence and pornography are ‘terrible issues'

Maybe not all bad, Gordon Brown has not actually mentioned any restrictions on adult material for adults but...

From Mediawatch-UK from BBC Radio 4 Today programme

In an interview with John Humphrys on the Radio 4 Today programme the Prime Minister said that he had been thinking about how to deal with some of the ‘long term challenges' that face our country

... I have visited most countries in the world in recent years and everybody is preparing for their future. We have got to prepare for ours. ‘So whether its terrorism and security ... whether its in the field of education

... whether its dealing with some of the new issues, the erosion of childhood, how we can deal with video and internet, violence and pornography and all those terrible issues that we have to deal with ...'

From The Sun see full article

New moves to stop kids watching gore and violence on the internet were announced yesterday by Gordon Brown.

The PM has ordered ministers to work on a crackdown with media watchdog Ofcom and web service providers.

Among his plans are to make parents more aware of filtering equipment. Ofcom is to develop kite-marked software which is simple to use and guarantees to block kids’ access to violence or hardcore porn.

Ministers will also look into whether new rules are needed on the advertising and sale of some products to youngsters.

The Premier said in a speech yesterday: I know parents are concerned. We will be looking to see what can be done to help regulate access to inappropriate material.

Brown is disgusted with the amount of violence readily available. Kids can watch thugs carrying out attacks and even beheadings in Iraq with just a few computer key strokes.

He is also growing increasingly alarmed by the spate of shootings and stabbings on our streets. “Happy-slapping” gangs use video phones to film attacks, then put the footage on the web.

The PM’s move is part of his first “citizen’s jury”, unveiled yesterday. He wants random groups to help draw up new policy ideas.

From The Herald see full article

The government is also working with the industry and Ofcom to find a common framework for labelling on the internet, videos, games and websites like Youtube without applying draconian censorship.

An industry spokesman said: We think the answer is having the industry play a much more important role helping consumers know what they are going to see, and help parents protect their children against antisocial content.

 
Brown announces review of media, sex, violence & children

From the Guardian see full article

The impact of media violence on children will be the focus of a wider than expected government review being launched today. It may lead to new voluntary controls over excessive violence and sex on children's television and the internet and in video games.

Gordon Brown stressed that he did not see the review leading to state censorship...BUT...hoped it would lead to a common agreement between parents, programme makers and internet providers that new controls are necessary.

Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, Brown said parents were right to expect the government to do everything in its power to protect children from harmful material in a multimedia age. The review is to be conducted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

In the past the sources of authority for children had been schools or parents. The aim of the review was to protect children from some of the malign influences in the media, he said. He added that he had concerns about the routine violence on children's television, saying he wanted to see a better-policed watershed hour and a review of advertising before the watershed.

He stressed: This is not the government telling people what they should do [...BUT...] this is society reaching a conclusion with all those people involved about what are the legitimate boundaries.

He added: I think we have got to look at this as a society. I hope this is one of the areas where there can be common ground between all parties. I think you need to review this with a large number of representative groups, from parents, from the different industries itself and from other areas of public life.

This is not an area where you can proceed in my view without trying to establish both what the boundaries are and what is the consensus you can build around these boundaries.

I am not interested in censorship at all, ...BUT... I think we do need rules governing some aspects of the internet and videos where children are involved. He said he expected the media to be fully willing to be involved in the review.

 
Tanya Byron to inquire into impact of games & internet on children

From the Times see full article

Tanya Byron, the clinical psychologist, is to head an inquiry into the impact of violent video games and internet pornography on children.

The appointment of Dr Byron could presage interventionist action. Ministers believe that the views of parents must be given as much weight as those of the technicians, government sources told The Times.

Ways of preventing children from watching violent and gory images, will be explored. Dr Byron, a mother of two who is for her appearances on the BBC series Little Angels and House of Tiny Tearaways, said that it was vital that parents understood the dangers of such material: The internet is a powerful and positive tool for children in terms of their learning and ongoing development. However, we must all enable our children to use the possibility presented by the internet in a way that is both positive and safe.

Ofcom, the media watchdog, is already looking at the idea of a kite-marked filter device, with easy-to-understand instructions for parents, that could be sold with computers and video recorders.

Ed Balls, the Children, Schools and Families Secretary, said: More and more children and young people have mobile phones and play video games in their spare time. These technologies bring our children new, fantastic opportunities and lots of fun but we need to balance this with the risks and worries that parents have of their children accessing inappropriate content.

This review is not about stopping children having fun or preventing them from taking full advantage of the educational, social and entertainment benefits that the internet and video games technologies offer. But it is about making sure they can do so safely, as far as possible, without being exposed to harmful or inappropriate material.

 
Detailing the Byron Review into protecting children from games and videos

It looks like consumers of games and video are missing from the list of those being consulted.

From the DFES see full article

Byron Review: Statement by Dr Tanya Byron

Helping parents and their children get the best from new technologies while protecting children from inappropriate or potentially harmful material is crucial in today’s fast moving world. That’s why, as a clinical psychologist with many years of experience working with children, young people and their families, I am very pleased to have been asked by the Government to conduct such an important review. The internet and video games have huge potential for children’s play and learning. Parents welcome the benefits technologies can bring but they also want their children to be safe and many have concerns about what their children may come across online or whether the videogames they are using are appropriate.

I hope to identify measures that help all parents feel confident that their children are using these great new opportunities in a way that’s appropriate for their age and development. As part of my clinical experience I have had contact with very vulnerable and at risk children and young people, who can be more affected by harmful or inappropriate material in games or on-line. But I do not propose to focus the work of this review solely on those most extreme cases.

This review is about pulling together the shared responsibility we have as parents, society, government and industry to protect our children and young people from harm. I will be engaging with all the people who have a role in this, in direct conversations with the industry and through focus groups with parents, children and young people. I will also be issuing a call for evidence in early October so that everyone with an interest will have the opportunity to contribute to the review and ensure that my conclusions are based on robust evidence and informed opinions. My final report is due at the end of March 2008.

If you would like to send comments to the review please use the following email address: Byron.Review@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Update: Launch

9th October 2007

The review is due to be launched by Dr Byron - together with Schools Secretary Ed Balls and Culture Secretary James Purnell - at a school in east London today

 
Gordon Brown: I am not interested in censorship at all...BUT...

From Spong see full article

Gordon Brown spoke at the press conference to launch the Byron Review into protecting children from games and videos:

" have said before that parents in the modern world, and I count myself one of them, feel under enormous pressure because whereas the sources of authority and the sources of information even for previous generations were often the parents, the school, the peer group, voluntary organisations, the sources of information for children at a very young age now are the internet or television, commercial advertising. And that is a good thing in so many different ways, but where there is pornographic or violent material any parent is going to be concerned about the impact, and any parent wants the reassurance that everything possible is being done when they can't see in almost every occasion the point at which their son or their daughter is watching some of these Internet materials either through a telephone or through other media of communication, they want reassurance that we are doing everything in our power."

"I am not interested in censorship at all...BUT...I think we do need rules governing some aspects of the internet and videos where children are involved and the whole purpose of this review would be to draw on the advice of all sources so that we can look at this in a sensible way".

"I think it is a common if you like endeavour of our society to make sure that our children, while given every opportunity to benefit from new technology and the new media, are also protected against some of the malign influences that are trying to operate through that media.”

Religion Worthy of hatred

 
Racial and Religious Hatred Act comes into effect

From the National Secular Society

Sweeping Racial and Religious Hatred Act comes into effect
After a long delay, the Racial and Religious Hatred Act has been signed and will now come into effect on 1 October 2007.

The National Secular Society led the campaign against this legislation for five years when it became clear that in its original form it would have posed a severe threat to free expression – particularly on the right to criticise and mock religion. In a high profile campaign – that involved Rowan (Mr Bean) Atkinson, and which was spear-headed in Parliament by NSS Honorary Associate Evan Harris – we managed to get the most illiberal elements of the Bill removed.

The Government was not happy with the watered down version, but it was passed by the House of Commons with a majority of one. The-then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had left parliament before the vote on the Bill was taken in the mistaken impression that it would be lost regardless of his vote.

It is thought that the Government still wishes to bring in stronger legislation.

Religion Worthy of hatred

 
Racial and Religious Hatred Act has come into force

From Ekklesia see full article

Incitement to religious hatred has now become a criminal offence in England and Wales with the commencement of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act.

The Act creates a new offence of intentionally stirring up religious hatred against people on religious grounds.

Existing offences in the Public Order 1986 Act legislate against inciting racial hatred. Jews and Sikhs have been deemed by the courts to be racial groups and are protected under this legislation, but other groups such as Muslims and Christians are considered to be religious rather than racial groups and have therefore not previously received protection under the law.

The new Act will give protection to these groups by outlawing the use of threatening words or behaviour intended to incite hatred against groups of people defined by their religious beliefs or lack of belief.

The new law however explicitly does not outlaw expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions.

The new offence therefore has an even higher threshold than the race hatred offence, recognising that religious beliefs are a legitimate subject of vigorous public debate.

 
Government suggest a media think tank to consider future direction of regulation

From Broadcast Now see full article

The government is creating a new think-tank to steer media policy in the rapidly changing UK media environment.

Culture secretary, James Purnell said that he and business secretary, John Hutton, would recruit senior figures from inside and outside government to inform media policy as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the way the sector is regulated.

Ofcom has struggled to keep pace with changes in the media environment, particularly as new technologies provide more direct connection with viewers over broadband. The move is being seen as a first step in an attempt to move policy forming away from Ofcom, which only has responsibility for regulation.

The new think-tank will convene a series of public consultations and will conduct work likely to result in a new Communications Act before the existing analogue signal is switched off in 2012.

Purnell also spoke about the public's trust in TV. He said that the industry must fight the perception that recent fracas would lead to the public givong up on public service broadcasting.

By contrast, he said, people approach the internet with a built-in understanding that not everything they see will meet the same standards as TV and radio output.

To protect broadcasting's legacy as a source of trusted reputation Purnell outlined three broad objectives.

• The first of these was to maintain an open market without dictating the direction of technology as consumers increasingly seek to have some say in how they access their media. We must guard against the risk of new bottlenecks and new gatekeepers emerging with the potential to stifle innovation and constrain access.
• The second revolved around maintaining a distinct form of public service broadcasting centred on universal access, which Ofcom and the DCMS are currently reviewing.
• Referring to the government's recently-launched investigation into the effects of the media on children, Purnell's final focus was on empowering consumers in a broadcasting world in which restrictions such as the 9pm watershed would lose their relevance. He said: If we can give more parents more power to control their children's viewing, they will prove to be very keen regulators: certainly much sharper than the blunt instrument of censorship.

Gordon Brown's ministerial team. Left to right: Women's Issues, Patriotism & Jingoism, Religious Observance, Fun & Recreation, Men's Issues

 
More nasty ideas to get more people in prison

Based on an article from the Guardian see full article

Ministers are considering proposals to prosecute men for buying sex, the Guardian has learned.

Senior members of the government are discussing whether to criminalise the purchase, rather than sale, of sex - as Sweden did eight years ago.

One minister acknowledged the move would be quite a dramatic step, but added: There's no doubt whatsoever it's being talked about. There is increasing awareness among senior ministers, particularly women, that demand for prostitution is an area which needs to be tackled seriously and hasn't been.

A number of senior women in government - including Jacqui Smith, the home secretary; Patricia Scotland, the attorney general; Vera Baird, solicitor general; and Harriet Harman, leader of the house - are thought to be sympathetic to the calls.

Other proposals being considered include large-scale programmes to name and shame men caught kerbcrawling, which is already illegal. But campaigners believe that only by criminalising clients can they help women working in brothels as well as on the streets and send out a signal that paying for sex is not acceptable.

Fiona Mactaggart MP, who as a home office minister was in charge of tackling prostitution until last year, said: The criminal justice bill that comes back on the first day [after the parliamentary recess] includes changes to the prostitution strategy. It would be possible to put into it some amendment which deals with this issue of men who pay for sex, she said.

A Home Office spokeswoman said it had no current plans to criminalise paying for sex. But the Guardian understands that the proposal is being discussed informally with a view to longer-term action.

The government has won praise from unexpected sources for other socially conservative measures recently, ranging from scrapping plans for a supercasino to launching a review of media violence and its impact on children and young people.

Sweden criminalised buying sex but decriminalised selling it eight years ago. Supporters of the scheme say it has slashed the number of brothels and clients and cut the level of sex trafficking into the country to hundreds of women. But some critics have suggested that women who remain in the sex industry have become more vulnerable as a result of the reforms.

Gordon Brown's ministerial team. Left to right: Women's Issues, Patriotism & Jingoism, Religious Observance, Fun & Recreation, Men's Issues

 
Reminding the Government of what Wolfenden said

From Alan

This month, the government engages in a spasm of self-congratulation on the fiftieth anniversary of the Wolfenden report.

Next month, it proposes:

• throwing tarts in the slammer if they don't attend naughty behaviour correction courses
• throwing mildly kinky people in the slammer if it doesn't like their choice of videos
• and now, it seems, throwing blokes in the slammer if they engage the services of a prostitute.

Maybe, instead of celebrating the Wolfenden report, MPs should read it:

"there must remain a realm of private morality and immorality which is, in brief and crude terms, not the law's business. To say this is not to condone or encourage private immorality."

"the function of the criminal law... is to preserve public order and decency, to protect the citizen from what is offensive or injurious, and to provide sufficient safeguards against exploitation and corruption of others, particularly those who are specially vulnerable because they are young, weak in body or mind, inexperienced, or in a state of special physical, official or economic dependence".

"It is not, in our view, the function of the law to intervene in the private lives of citizens, or to seek to enforce any particular pattern of behaviour, further than is necessary to carry out the purposes of we have outlined."

10th August

Open Up! We know you have advertisers inside

Government to ban advertising for offshore gambling

The ramifications on the UK internet industry could be far reaching, how will it effect Google, or sites running syndicated advertising such as Google Adsense. How does one know where companies are based? and how does one define a UK publisher?

And worst of all, the Government will surely be tempted to extend advertising bans to all sorts of other sites.

From The Guardian see full article

The government has banned about 1,000 off-shore gambling websites, including well-known operators such as William Hill, from advertising in the UK.

The ban applies to any gambling companies operating outside the European Economic Area, affecting popular websites such as William Hill Casino, Betfred Casino and Poker, Interpoker.com and Littlewoodscasino.com.

From September, when the Gambling Act comes into force, any online firm based in gaming company havens such as Costa Rica, the Netherlands Antilles and Belize will not be able to market in the UK and the Department of Culture Media will crackdown on illegal advertising.

Because most of the companies have no operations in the UK to legally pursue, websites, broadcasters and advertising companies that create campaigns for such companies will face fines or imprisonment.

I make no apology for banning adverts for websites operating from places that don't meet our strict standards, said the culture minister, James Purnell.

Countries that want to be exempted from the ban - which applies to all forms of media including TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, taxis, buses, the tube and websites that publish in the UK - have to pass a strict test of regulatory standards to then join a "white list".

Alderney and the Isle of Man are the only jurisdictions to have so far made the "white list" after sufficiently demonstrating a rigorous licensing regime designed to stop children gambling, protect vulnerable people, keep games fair and keep out crime.

   
UK becoming a country not worth fighting for

From The Guardian see full article

Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.

They also cannot release video, still images or audio - material which has previously led to investigations into the abuse of Iraqis. Instead, the guidelines state that all such communication must help to maintain and, where possible, enhance the reputation of defence.

The regulations, issued by the Directorate of Communication Planning, come in the wake of the row over the MoD allowing two of the HMS Cornwall sailors held captive in Iran to be paid for their stories. Receiving money for interviews, conferences and books which draw on official defence experience has now been banned.

The MoD document, circulated last week, covers all public speaking, writing or other communications, including via the internet and other sharing technologies, on issues arising from an individual's official business or experience, whether on-duty, off-duty or in spare time.

The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying yesterday that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression. The rules apply not only to full-time forces but to members of the Territorial Army and cadets whilst on duty, as well as MoD civil servants.

An unofficial soldiers' website, arrse.co.uk, was full of angry debate about the issue yesterday. One poster said: Why does it not occur to MoD that if it did things properly, and treated its people well, they wouldn't feel the need to bring things into the public arena quite so often, and they wouldn't need to spend so much time covering-up?

Geoffrey Robertson, QC, a leading human rights lawyer, said that the guidelines were likely to contravene the Human Rights Act. He said they reminded him of the "catch-all" section of the old official secrets act, which made it a criminal offence to disclose information without lawful authority. The discredited section, which was repealed in 1989, stopped soldiers from revealing the brand of tea served in the MoD canteen, he said.

   
Much discussed Bush Blair memo still secret

From Index on Censorship see full article
See also O'Connor - Keogh official secrets trial on Wikipedia

Index on Censorship has won a limited victory in its joint appeal with the BBC, the Times, the Guardian and other media organisations, against the gagging orders on reporting the Leo O'Connor and David Keogh official secrets trial.

Leo O'Connor and David Keogh were jailed in May for breaching the Official Secrets Act. David Keogh, a civil servant, had leaked a memo of a conversation between George Bush and Tony Blair.

During the trial, discussion of the contents of the memo were held in camera. After Keogh and O'Connor were sentenced, the judge, Mr Justice Aikens, ruled under the Contempt of Court Act that the press could not discuss the trial and the alleged contents of the memo in the same article - despite the fact that the memo had already been widely discussed in the press.

Index, along with the UK's leading broadcasters, newspapers and media organisations, appealed against the gagging orders.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling - albeit under a different section of the law - which bans the press from reporting the statement made by David Keogh in open court. It also ruled that the press cannot suggest that allegations about the contents of the memo, which appeared in the Daily Mirror in 2005, represented the evidence given in camera. Mr Justice Aikens has said that the reports are inaccurate. So although the Kafkaesque restrictions have been modified, censorship on how the press reports the case still remains in place.

I propose fellow nutter Keith Vaz

 
Keith Vaz to chair Home Affairs Committee

From UK Parliament see full article

At a meeting on 26 July 2007, the Home Affairs Committee chose the Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP to be its Chairman.

Keith Vaz has been Member of Parliament for Leicester East since June 1987.

The motion that Vaz take the Chair of the Committee was proposed by Mr Martin Salter MP and agreed unanimously.

The previous Chairman of the Committee was the Rt Hon John Denham MP, who withdrew from participation in the Committee after accepting ministerial office on 28 June.

Internet companies asked to halt suicide amongst the young

From the BBC see full article

Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has met Bebo, Vodafone and Google in a bid to stop websites being used to promote suicide among young people.

He highlighted the growing danger of copycat suicides linked to internet usage and social networking sites.

McGimpsey asked internet firms to confirm by the end of the month what action they intended to take.

The minister said that while recognising the positive contribution made by the internet industry, what was needed now were preventative measures. Young people are our most valuable resource and we cannot delay in putting in place strong measures aimed at protecting them. In the last twelve months the rate of suicides in Northern Ireland has increased significantly and the internet has been cited as a contributory factor in some cases.

McGimpsey chairs the Ministerial Coordination Group on Suicide Prevention.

   
Jack Straw and James Purnell

Gordon Brown has named his new ministers and our old friend Jackboots Straw is back in charge as the Minister of Injustice. There seems little chance that he will do anything to tone down the nasty Dangerous Pictures Act currently going through Parliament.

From Broadcast Now see full article

James Purnell has been named the new culture secretary in prime minister Gordon Brown's cabinet overhaul, taking over from Tessa Jowell.

Previously minister for the creative industries, Purnell, 37, also worked as a special adviser to Tony Blair between 1997 and 2001, and was previously head of corporate planning at the BBC where he worked for John Birt.

Well known in the broadcasting industry, Purnell, is widely credited with developing the idea for Ofcom at the age of 24 - he set the blueprint for a converged media and telecommunications regulator when he was a research fellow for the Institute for Public Policy Research.

Jowell, who had lead the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, has been sidelined but it is understood that she may still retain responsibility for the 2012 Olympics in a specially created role.

   
Blair notes reduced capacity for politicians to take the right decisions

From The Telegraph see full article

Tony Blair called for new curbs on the media yesterday after warning that increasingly sensational news coverage threatened politicians capacity to take the right decisions for the country

In a bitter parting swipe at newspapers and television before he stands down as Prime Minister on June 27, he said the media behaved like a feral beast, just tearing people and reputations to bits.

While Blair acknowledged that New Labour shared some of the blame by "spinning" too much in t