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level80

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    http://www.johnbrace.com/

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    Wirral
  • Interests
    politics, journalism, video games

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  1. The names of all the politicians involved and the names of the senior officers at Wirral Council involved (classed as Head of Service or above) were published here http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/documents/s50002438/Table%201%20Wirral%20MBC%20Employees%20and%20Table%202%20Other%20Individuals%20and%20Organisations%20Mentioned%20in%20AKA%20Re.pdf at some point around the 20th February 2012. The public aren't going to get any more than that, as the rest are known only to the company that wrote the report (Anna Klonowski Associates Ltd) who aren't subject to the freedom of information legislation.
  2. Hi, I recently wrote this blog post about possible changes to the filming of public meetings in my neck of the woods (Wirral). When the changes were made last year to filming of local council meetings by the Openness of Local Government Bodies Regulations 2014 , these changes also applied to Hereford too. As I think my local Council has interpreted the law and new regulations incorrectly I'm keen to hear of how other councils reacted to the changes to see if any have such a bizarre interpretation of the guide and regulations as Wirral Council do. Did the local council in Hereford agree a policy or write any guidance on this matter (if so do you have a link)? Has anyone in Hereford tried to film a public meeting of their local council without problems? I'm keen to find out. Thanks in advice. John Brace
  3. IT and public bodies seem to be a toxic mix. The politicians (with rare exceptions) don't understand IT. The managers of the public body are too old (with rare exceptions) to understand IT. The contractors do (in some rare cases) understand IT but a lot of them whilst they understand IT don't fully understand how a public body operates. So there's a "training requirement" for politicians, managers and a few others in IT so they can understand how to do their respective roles.
  4. Oh you mean like http://johnbrace.com/2014/09/10/filming-public-meetings-on-merseyside-open-democracy-phase-2-fire-authority-is-best-liverpool-council-is-worst/ Liverpool City Council who tried to stop filming after the new law came in? Or like Wirral Council http://johnbrace.com/2014/10/29/the-day-democracy-and-freedom-of-the-press-died-at-wirral-council-28th-october-2014/ who class the presence of a sixteen year old to be enough to ban filming (despite having nothing in their standing orders)? Councils flagrantly disregard their legal duties. Yes the media could sue, but seriously is that what's needed for things to change?
  5. I have plenty of legal invoices from Wirral Council (unpublished as yet) about HR matters, however as you can guess they are heavily redacted!!! Mind you, the way I feel about Wirral Council at the moment I might just start publishing them. Petulant is one of the words they tried to black out, but it seems their HR and legal departments are very careful not to have the details leak out!!!
  6. I used to stand in elections, most I got was 2nd with 699 votes, but my own party decided the prospect of me being a councillor was too scary so stabbed me in the back. So I sued them, won in court. Then a few weeks later got more votes than them and shoved them into last place (for the first time in years). I was an elected public official for a couple of one year terms of office in my student days. That was when I was in my mid-20s. However, if you want to look at what Frank's up to see the footage of last Thursday's Birkenhead Constituency Committee that I uploaded to Youtube (he chair it). My they even had "young people" speaking at that meeting. Didn't point the camera at them after the fiasco on Tuesday evening. No I'm not falling for that trap. If they won't let me film a 16 year old male with a disability on Tuesday, I'm not filming four female young people on Thursday. No Thursday was a trap and I feel set up!!!
  7. Oh dear I get mentioned again, but in a nice way. Here I am on the Wirral battling with Youtube/Sony Music Entertainment who've taken down one of my videos of Wirral Council on what I see are spurious grounds. Apparently they think just because somebody happened to show a video (which contained the music track by Jonsi (an Icelandic musician) We buily a zoo) during a public meeting that that's grounds for taking the whole video down and preventing the public hearing about... *dramatic drumroll* Wirral Council's attempts to close down a school for disabled children. Meanwhile the Bulgarians (a new customer) have paid me for an ad in the other part of the media I work in outside of politics. Yes, it's been busy here today, since Youtube (from this morning) restricted me to clips of less than fifteen minutes, I've been chopping up audio of last night's meeting into smaller chunks to upload. Now instead of two Youtube clips, it's three! Such is the life of the broadcast media I suppose... but then I am honoured because yesterday evening the outgoing Chief Executive of Wirral Council gave instructions to one of its employees to give us the press a copy of an amendment... wow.. how things change! It must've been that rant I had at him a week ago about the press not getting copies of amendments and the subsequent criticism of his comments online I made about him trying to persuade me to leave the Council Chamber when I went to get one during the adjournment. His argument was I could see "private papers". My argument was (wearing glasses) that I might "see them" but that they'd have to be between 5-6 inches away from my eyes in order to actually read them. I also pointed out that the many people staring down from the public gallery could probably see these "private papers" (and many of them were public papers published on Wirral Council's website for the meeting) better than I could! What's next though? Wirral Council searches people at public meeting for binoculars?
  8. It's never good for anyone to take on the press though. :) And I have a very thick skin... I may be a nuisance at times but I'm still on speaking terms with those I criticise!
  9. I've written about it myself here http://johnbrace.com/2014/08/06/openness-of-local-government-bodies-regulations-2014-prevents-councillors-stopping-filming-at-public-meetings/ and you can read the DCLG press release here http://www.gov.uk/government/news/press-freedom-boosted-by-new-right-to-report . It was also covered this morning by BBC Radio Merseyside, but I suppose local media coverage partly depends on whether you live in one of the areas mentioned in the DCLG press release as previously banning filming.
  10. Believe me I've spent years attending public meetings and putting what they say at them into something the public will understand! Management often seems to have a language and jargon all of its own. It's interesting though that there seem to be great similarities across local councils. Much of what local councils do isn't decided locally but is determined nationally by laws, regulations or how much money they get for something that year. It probably explains why a lot of local councillors often stand to become MPs. Being a councillor didn't quite give them the power and status they wanted so they want to carry on climbing the greasy pole of politics. Some of my translations of how things were put were done somewhat tongue in cheek, but you're right, the job description is written by people who don't seem to have writing in plain English as part of their job description!
  11. I'm a journalist that writes about local government for a living. So I'll do my best to translate into language the average person on the street would understand along with a quote from the original. "At Herefordshire Council we are transforming our services in response to the unprecedented challenges presented by national policy changes, the financial environment and the need to reduce demand on key services." At Herefordshire Council we're planning cuts to services, but we're too frightened to just call them cuts. "This is an exciting time to join our organisation and be part of the journey to reshape and focus on our clearly set out priority areas, within the resources available, to keep children and young people safe and give them the best start in life; enable residents to live safe, healthy and independent lives and stimulate the economy by investing in projects to improve roads, create jobs and build more homes." We're desperate for people to work here, like many local councils we provide education through schools, repair the roads, try and make sure people have a job and that houses are built. "Herefordshire is a naturally beautiful rural county, where people are attracted to the rewarding and stimulating work opportunities outside an urban setting. We embrace the changing environment; grab hold of continuous improvement opportunities, work at pace and balance flexibility. You can make a real difference here whilst enjoying a great combination of quality of life with quality of work. " We don't expect you'll be spending your working career staring out of the window at the scenery, but there are some nice places to walk in on your days off. We'll tell you you can make a real difference, but when you get the job you'll find you're just a cog in a very large machine and expected to do what you're told. "We have lively and active communities in our villages and market towns of Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury, Kington, Leominster and Bromyard, as well as the vibrant and historic city of Hereford. All offer good schools, entertainment and shopping facilities. There’s something for all ages, great community spirit and is a wonderful place to live and work." If you have kids, we have schools (but doesn't everywhere else)! We also have shops to spend your hard earned wages in. Some of our buildings are very old. "Herefordshire Council is integral to the community and as the county’s largest employer and provider of services, working with us provides the opportunity to have a positive impact and make a difference to Herefordshire residents and communities." Don't worry you're not joining a cult (despite our aim to make a positive impact) we're a local council. Work for us.
  12. However as people are interested in the filming issue, I'll provide a little more detail. They'll come into force on the 6th August 2014 and the text of the new regulations can be read here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111113554/pdfs/ukdsi_9780111113554_en.pdf . Regulations 1-6 deal with the filming issue. They mainly amend other legislation to do with public meetings. To summarise it, from 6th August 2014 local councils won't be able to prevent people filming their public meeting. The new regulations also apply to town and parish councils, public meetings of fire and rescue authorities and a few other public bodies such as combined authorities. As well as filming, it means you'll be able to take photos, tweet etc and publish such information. I'll write up something a little more detailed nearer the time.
  13. I do my best by filming underneath one of the two speakers in the public gallery but the acoustics from the public gallery are to put it bluntly awful. In fact for Wirral School Forum meetings (also held in the Council Chamber) I've started recording from the Chamber last time itself which is better. The trouble is the place has a very high ceiling so sound just gets lost. Also the angle from the public gallery means only about half a dozen out of sixty-six councillors can be seen. I do try to record sound independently (in better quality) and have thought of dubbing over. Trouble then is synching the soundtrack to the video. Once the regulations come in I'll have a rethink about things. At the moment I'm using cheap equipment (the camera cost about £24.99) and have recently upgraded to a tripod with a video head (which allows for panning onto whoever is speaking). At least one person has suggested a direct feed into the audio (where meetings use microphones) would be better. I'd have to have a meeting with Wirral Council though to get the permission to do that though. There has in the past been a lot of resistance to councillors being filmed. It's odd as you wouldn't expect politicians to be camera shy would you? Or is it just that an independent record of the meeting that can't be altered like the minutes can allows less flexibility for politicians to spin what happened?
  14. Sadly, I'm not as familiar with local politics in Hereford as you obviously are (although I'm always interested to hear about other places). Of course I don't mind you posting the link. I remember once a long time ago showing Bill Norman my press card for him to have a long argument with me trying to persuade me I wasn't the press! His replacement Surjit Tour isn't willing to stretch the truth to that degree! Over the years I've had my effect on local openness and transparency (and been shouted at many times by politicians). Faced a local councillor (and his entire political party) on the other side of a courtroom, won then beaten said party into last place at the ballot box a few weeks later. My reporting has led to violence against my family from someone associated with a political party, arrests on a trumped up "breach of the peace" matter (I joked with the arresting officer that my snoring couldn't be that loud!), the Council being featured on the regional TV news and the downfall of a previous Labour administration. However on the bright side, my reporting has also led (in part) to a new law coming into effect in just a few weeks time that will allow anyone to film public meetings of their local Council if they so wish. I bear the scars of poor corporate governance literally (a four inch scar resulting from an operation on my wrist after breaking it a few months after the wrist having been weakened by the bully boy coppers putting the handcuffs on too tightly because the police so a side line as witness intimidation and doing the bidding of terrorists (that is people who use violence for political ends)). So yes, it's been interesting! Although the journey has been such that would lead to others fleeing the country and seeking asylum! Sadly being hauled out of bed and taken away in handcuffs so the police can quiz me about local government officers seems to be about the way things used to work round here. Witness intimidation and persecution of whistleblowers is the way things are done. Such is life eh in our "democracy"?
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