Category Archives: Scotland

Britain, Government, Human Rights, Intelligence, National Security, Politics, Scotland, Society

Protecting privacy requires Government action…

SURVEILLANCE

In the early 1990s a Scottish newspaper exposed the details of a routine police practice known as ‘metering’. This involved a senior detective and police officer requesting from British Telecom (BT) one of their customer’s phone records. Such records detailed the telephone numbers that person was calling, when the call took place, and the call’s duration. British Telecom handed these details over under a ‘private agreement’ it had formulated between itself and the police.

Not only did the newspaper reveal this practice, but divulged how little political or judicial oversight there was of it. Later, the Secretary of State for Scotland at the time, Ian Lang, announced new guidelines on metering for Scotland’s police forces, and a new reporting system was introduced to keep track of the practice. Details came to light following the theft of metering surveillance documents from the Headquarters of Lothian and Borders police in Edinburgh, in a saga that came to be known as Fettesgate.

More than two decades on one could be tempted to change the word ‘metering’ to ‘metadata’. In recent months, Edward Snowden, a former US intelligence officer with the National Security Agency (NSA), revealed the phenomenal scale of surveillance of the public’s phone, text, e-mail and social network communications, carried out by the NSA in joint collaboration with Britain’s GCHQ in Cheltenham. Matters arising now are the same issues that applied in 1992. Unlike the actual listening into telephone conversations, much of this surveillance focusses around metadata in the reading of e-mails and electronic texts but does not require ministerial permission and oversight.

The Scottish Government appears to accept the current democratic oversight may be insufficient. It suggests the scope of the practices used in surveillance may need to be reviewed in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country.

Some may say, however, that this is not good enough – arguing, that if the legislation needs to be reviewed then it should be done now: issues of public accountability, improved oversight and privacy apply regardless of Scotland’s constitutional future.

Privacy, of course, is one of the biggest issues of the day. Electronic and digital communications have opened up channels for people in a way that would have been hard to imagine just a generation ago. Undoubtedly, though, this has been achieved at a price. One of the biggest challenges facing our parliamentarians is to balance the needs of the police and security services with the personal liberties and rights of law-abiding citizens who are entitled to enjoy a private life. Of particular concern is the apparent comfortable relationship that has evolved between the authorities and some of the large telecommunication companies, many of whom are already under intense criticism for being condescending with their customers’ privacy.

Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP, must accept that his task is not only facilitating Police Scotland in their fight against crime, but also involves protecting ordinary citizens in Scotland from undue and unwelcome scrutiny of their private lives by the authorities. Mr MacAskill has remained silent on this issue despite surveillance being a major issue in the current era. The Justice Secretary must speak up and demonstrate that he has this balance right.

Standard
Scotland

Jolly…

I’ve had enough of Unionism. It does nothing for Scotland.

An independent Scotland is the best outcome for Scotland.

Make it happen. Vote Yes.

Scotland's future is in her own hands.

Scotland’s future is in her own hands

The Act of the Union in 1707 was forced upon Scotland by rich conservative landowners in Scotland loyal to the Crown.

For the first time in more than 300 years Scotland will decide its own destiny.

The Referendum for Scottish independence: Read it online at www.scotreferendum.com or download the e-book.

– Be wary of the Unionist campaign to entice exiles to call home putting pressure on relatives to vote for the Union.

– An independent Scotland would control all of its own resources and would make all of its own political decisions. It wouldn’t need a penny from anyone.

– An independent Scotland can make a huge difference on the world stage. Small countries like Scotland will become the  catalyst for change in world economics.

– Under an independent Scotland Trident will be removed from Scottish soil.

– Westminster scaremongering over the currency to be used in an independent Scotland is just that, high-handed opportunism. How would Westminster expect Scotland to repay its fair share of the national debt? In buttons?

– Scotland is still being dictated to by a Westminster government it did not elect. Scotland is a country, not a region of the English counties.

– Scotland is pro-Europe and pro-immigration. Scotland’s future growth depends on others coming to Scotland to contribute.

– Under an independent Scotland those living in Scotland will be granted Scottish citizenship. People born in Scotland but living outside of Scotland will also be granted Scottish citizenship.

– An independent Scotland would operate a fairer welfare system.

– Scotland’s educational, legal and religious based institutions have always been unique and differ in many different ways to those that operate elsewhere in the UK. Throughout history our legal rulings have been continually diluted by the Westminster Parliament.  

– Westminster only wants Scotland for its resources.

– Kick the union into the long grass, it does nothing for Scotland.

– The Declaration of Arbroath was signed on 6 April 1320. See the document

– The Scottish Government has pledged that in an independent Scotland an oil fund will be created, something similar to the lucrative oil fund that already exists in Norway.

– Scotland is a resource-rich country, yet many people in Scotland cannot afford to heat their homes because energy policy is dictated by Westminster.

– Passport checks at the border, which the London Government said would happen if an independent Scotland comes into being, has backfired on the spin doctors affiliated to unionist parties. It would be for an English government to set these up as Scotland fully intends to encourage immigration.

Standard
Government, Health, Scotland

Concern over the rising incidence of hospital acquired infections in Scotland…

Clostridium Difficile

Recently released figures on the spread of C Diff in hospitals suggest that cases of this deadly infection are on the increase. Such findings will concern Health Boards given the years of advice to patients, staff and visitors to hospital wards on keeping good personal hygiene and cleanliness.

The rise, reported by Health Protection Scotland, is unexpected. For some time the incidence of Clostridium difficile has been in relative decline, as has that of another hospital acquired infection, MRSA.

The most recent quarterly period for which information is available depicts an alarming rise, with levels in the under-65 age bracket up by an alarming 35 per cent. Public health clinicians are not certain why this is, but have suggested a number of possible contributory factors, including the inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics and poor infection-control management.

For the layman, however, the suspicion must remain that people have let down their guard and are not being sufficiently meticulous in their cleanliness regime, whether those people be medical personnel, hospital cleaning staff or visitors to hospital wards who find it difficult to understand the words ‘now wash your hands’.

This is problematic because the issue cannot be isolated. Out of Scotland’s 14 health boards, ten have seen cases increase. In NHS Highland the rate more than doubled.

This will be a concern for everyone connected with the health service in Scotland. Hospitals are meant to be places that make you well and fit again, not give you potentially life-threatening infections.

It is incumbent upon administrators, clinicians and government ministers to work together in formulating a plan that will ensure the current trend is not a reversal of good progress and advances made in recent years.

Standard