Last week, The Register published my review of e-Borders, a government IT scheme that deserves more attention than it gets. Presumably politicians’ wish to sound tough on immigration stands in the way, but the UK’s system for tracking international journeys has big problems that it is hard to see anyone solving. Continue reading “e-Borders: still over here, still a mess – article for The Register”
Category: Articles
An independent Scotland’s tough government IT choices for The Register
One year ahead of the referendum, The Register last week published my assessment of the choices an independent Scotland would face on government IT.
It’s a mixed picture. Some sections of the public sector, such as the NHS, education and the emergency service, are already run by Scotland on a devolved basis, and so is their IT. But the UK-wide ones that would need to be unscrambled are also the biggest: HM Revenue and Customs, Department for Work and Pensions and secret (leaving aside Edward Snowden’s cornucopia of stories) surveillance. Continue reading “An independent Scotland’s tough government IT choices for The Register”
Police ANPR: Ring of steel for MATTER, sieves of steel for rural cops
MATTER, each issue of which consists of a single long feature article on science and technology, has run some great stories since its launch last autumn (as well as trying to find new ways to make journalism pay).
In my humble and biased opinion, I think it has just published another one: ‘Ring of steel’ by James Bridle, which I co-edited and is based partly on my Freedom of Information-based research into how the police use automatic numberplate recognition. It’s available from MATTER. Continue reading “Police ANPR: Ring of steel for MATTER, sieves of steel for rural cops”
Hospital charities fight to raise funds as giving slows in austerity Britain
Charities supporting hospitals are finding new ways to reach out to donors as traditional cash cows dry up
In ‘A journey to… let’s not go there’ in his most recent book Holidays in heck
We’re a charitable institution. No one will ever be refused care here. On the other hand, we have to keep the lights on. We do try to find any possible means of payment – government programs, private insurance, et cetera.
Dartmouth-Hitchcock finds that 60% of patients who think they aren’t eligible for assistance are, but offers discounts and payments plans – and gave away $63m of treatment in 2007. Continue reading “Hospital charities fight to raise funds as giving slows in austerity Britain”
NHS CCG map: clinical commissioning groups on the web and on Twitter
Other maps of the new NHS: local area teams (LATs); commissioning support units (CSUs); specialised commissioning hubs and clinical senates.
Replacing one that I had set up before NHS clinical commissioning groups properly existed, Guardian Healthcare Professionals Network has put live EHI Intelligence’s new CCG map, which I have compiled. It’s also available below. Continue reading “NHS CCG map: clinical commissioning groups on the web and on Twitter”