Category Archives: Government

Government, Politics, Scotland, Society

Frontline policing in Scotland…

POLICE SCOTLAND

To the man or woman in the street, ‘frontline policing’ would probably be best summed up as the visible-presence of police officers in our communities, and one which affords a tangible sense of reassurance that our safety and security is being looked after.

On 1 April of this year, the unitary Scottish police force, Police Scotland, was created. Prior to the amalgamation of all police forces in Scotland the assurances given by government ministers and senior police officers was that there would be no diminution of frontline policing.

Of course, a rationalisation programme of this kind was always going to lead to backroom functions being merged and one which would produce savings for the public purse. But the clear message emanated was that wholesale changes to the way we are policed would be largely positive, in the form of more highly specialised centralised units dealing with specific types of crime. This, it was argued, would be more effective in dealing with various forms of crime-fighting.

Given that backdrop, what are we to make, then, of the announcement that a vast swathe of police stations around Scotland are to close, and many others seeing a reduction in their hours?

The police say they have carried out extensive research of how the front- counter service in police stations is used, and state that the new set-up is based on results of when and where the service is used and will provide greater value for money.

When the single force came into being, the government made it absolutely clear that it expected there to be savings from the police budget. Police Scotland’s Chief Constable, Sir Stephen House, is looking to remove £60 million from his budget. But it is hard to avoid the conclusion that these service changes are primarily driven by that need to cut costs.

At the heart of this is a fundamental question, which is: Are these cuts a reduction in frontline policing, or does the freeing up of officers give them more time to spend (actually) tackling crime on the streets? To answer that will depend on where you think the front line is.

As we have seen in Scotland over recent days and weeks there is good news to be celebrated on the policing front. Recently published figures have revealed that homicides are at a historic low and that the general trend of crime has been dropping in recent years.

Safety is important to the public and it will be reassuring for many to know that when experts within the police service believe safety might be compromised, then they make their views known, as they have done, to Scottish ministers. MSPs must be ready to consider those views carefully.

Yet one of the question marks about the single national force was how (and to whom) it would be accountable. Accountability is still difficult to discern, despite the force having been operational for several months. Time will eventually tell.

However, ultimately the police force is not accountable to politicians but the public. It is the public the police serve, who often do a difficult and dangerous job. A criticism in the past has been the withdrawal of police officers because of their low visibility in the community. That one of the first contractions the new force makes is an important interface with the public is bound to raise concern.

As the police know, perception is vital.

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Arts, Business, Google, Government, Research, Science, Society, Technology

How different internet giants dominate countries across the globe…

WORLDWIDE ANALYSIS OF SEARCH ENGINE USE

China’s Baidu is popular in Korea, ahead of its own search engine Naver.

Google has become so much a part of everyday life many people now use the brand name as a verb for searching, but a new map highlights exactly how far and wide the site spreads across the globe.

The map, created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute, used data from millions of people’s browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries.

Facebook was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries, while the third place site – China’s Baidu search engine, was popular in just two countries.

The map, pictured, was created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. It used data from millions of people's browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries, shown in red. Facebook, shown in blue, was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries

The map, pictured, was created by researchers at the Oxford Internet Institute. It used data from millions of people’s browsing history worldwide and shows Google as the most popular site, in 62 countries, shown in red. Facebook, shown in blue, was the second most visited site globally, in 50 countries

To work out the number of visitors, Dr Mark Graham and Stefano De Sabbata from the institute combined the number of estimated average daily unique visitors, with the estimated number of page views for that site from users in a particular country, for a particular month.

The data shown in the map covers the period of July and August this year and uses information collected by website analytics firm Alexa.

Each colour represents that most visited website in that country and each three individual blocks represent around one million users.

The countries are unusual sizes as the map effectively exaggerates countries that almost exclusively use one type of search engine.

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China’s favourite site is the search engine Baidu.

Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country’s own search engine Naver.

The majority of most-visited sites were search engines, but Facebook was also popular.

Although Facebook was predominantly popular in the west, it was also the most visited site in Nepal and Mongolia.

The Al-Watan Voice newspaper was the most visited website in the Palestinian Territories, the email service Mail.ru is the most visited site in Kazakhstan, the social network VK was the most visited in Belarus, and the search engine Yandex was the most popular site in Russia.

The researchers said: ‘The supremacy of Google and Facebook over any other site on the Web is clearly apparent. We also see an interesting geographical continuity of these two ’empires’.

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China's favourite site is the search engine Baidu, shown in green. Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country's own search engine Naver

Google is shown in red, Facebook is blue. Yahoo is shown in purple and has a stronghold over Japan, while China’s favourite site is the search engine Baidu, shown in green. Baidu is also popular in Korea, ahead of the country’s own search engine Naver

‘The situation is more complex in Asia, as local competitors have been able to resist the two large American empires.

‘At the same time, we see a puzzling fact that Baidu is also listed as the most visited website in South Korea – ahead of the popular search engine Naver.

‘We speculate that the raw data that we are using here are skewed. However, we may also be seeing the Baidu empire in the process of expanding beyond its traditional home territory.’

Areas in sub-saharan Africa aren’t covered by Alexa, yet Kenya, Madagascar, Nigeria, and South Africa are within the sphere of Google’s empire. Whereas Ghana, Senegal, and Sudan prefer Facebook.

On this map the countries bathed in blue are used to depict the global spread of Facebook, as of September 2013. The map shows a rising popularity in Africa, South America, and India - as also highlighted in the Oxford Institute map

On this map the countries bathed in blue are used to depict the global spread of Facebook, as of September 2013. The map shows a rising popularity in Africa, South America, and India – as also highlighted in the Oxford Institute map

Among the 50 countries where Facebook was listed as the most visited website, 36 of them had Google as the second most visited, with the remaining 14 countries listing YouTube, the Google-owned video site.

The countries where Google is the most visited website account for half of the entire internet population – over one billion people.

A large proportion of the population in China and South Korea use the internet, giving Baidu second place overall in terms of visitors.

The 50 Facebook countries account for about 280 million users, placing the social network in third.

‘We are likely still in the very beginning of the Age of Internet Empires,’ the researchers conclude.

‘But, it may well be that the territories carved out now will have important implications for which companies end up controlling how we communicate and access information for many years to come.’

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Economic, Government, Politics, United States

America’s shutdown and the wider malaise…

AMERICA’S CRISIS

At the beginning of this week, the federal government of the United States of America closed its doors for business.

At the heart of the dispute is the refusal by Congressional Republicans to fund the activities of the U.S. Government so long as they include the provision of ‘Obamacare’, the President’s important signature health reform policy. The White House insists that a group of Tea Party radicals is holding the nation hostage with polls suggesting that the majority of voters share that sentiment. Until the two sides are ready and able to agree a budget resolution, all but essential federal employees will go unpaid. A shutdown of this nature will inevitably have an impact on America’s economy, with some estimates suggesting that as much as 1 per cent from the country’s GDP could be knocked off if a prolonged stand-off ensues.

Yet, what is more worrying is the true significance of the crisis in that it is symptomatic of how America has become – ungovernable. With congressional districts heavily gerrymandered, coupled with a wider, decades-long process of social polarisation, has produced an electoral system that packs Congress with partisan politicians who have no incentive to reach accommodation with the other side. What is more, even if the current impasse can be resolved, there is a much darker cloud on the horizon: later this month America hits the ceiling on its debt limits, with agreement in Congress needed to avoid the pitfalls of the fiscal cliff.

This could provoke an economic as well as a constitutional crisis. In a worst-case scenario, the nation would be forced to default on its borrowing, plunging the global financial system back into chaos – and one which would easily eclipse that seen following the 2008 financial crisis. Many will say that seems inconceivable for politicians on Capitol Hill to allow such a disaster to unfold, but given the obduracy on display, nothing should be ruled out.

The Republican leadership remains in thrall to its Tea Party caucus, but that shouldn’t necessarily deflect from the fact that the hardliners do actually have a point. Like so many other nations around the world, this stand-off in America stems from the promises Washington made to its people that it cannot afford. The argument in favour of lifting the debt ceiling (limit) is that Congress has already written the cheques, and should be required to honour them. Indicative of the problem, though, is that the state wants to spend more without raising taxes.

America’s position, then, is more than just administrative paralysis: it reflects a much wider malaise. Undoubtedly, the U.S. is going through an identity crisis, and remains unsure whether it is to embrace a European social model of higher taxes and a bigger state, as well as what role it should be playing in policing the world.

We can only hope that the current shutdown will prompt a serious attempt for compromise between the parties that will put America’s finances on a more sustainable footing. However, given the dysfunction and lack of coordinated direction in Washington, we should at least prepare for the worst.

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