Pledge “strawman”
"I will write to Jack Straw to tell him he's a cretin but only if 100 other people will do the same."
— James Graham, Concerned Citizen (contact)
Deadline to sign up by: 28th July 2006
103 people signed up (3 over target)
Country: United Kingdom
More details
Jack Straw yesterday launched an outspoken attack on http://TheyWorkForYou.com, claiming that it is distorting they way MPs conduct their business. See: http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/200607/d...
This is patent nonsense. MPs are responsible for their own actions. TheyWorkForYou is a valuable contribution to our civil society, allowing us access to debates and MP's questions in a useable format that Parliament itself has been unwilling to provide itself.
What I'm asking people to do is to write to Jack Straw to (politely) tell him he's tilting at the wrong windmill here, and to insist that he takes part in the consultation exercise that theyworkforyou have already initiated on how to improve the way they measure MPs work. In particular, call for him to attend their public meeting on 7 November to discuss precisely this issue, rather than making potshots from his position of safety behind the despatch box.
Are you with me?
- give £36 to a fund to hire the services of an ex-cabinet minister
- Help David Davis win re-election by doing anything i can
- refuse to accept a national ID card
- pay £5 towards the campaign to put an atheist advert on the side of a London bus
- spend an hour OpenStreetMapping features on Caribbean islands from Yahoo! aerial imagery and will also donate £10 to the OpenStreetMap Foundation
See more pledges, and all about how PledgeBank works.
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Current signatories (
= they've done it)
James Graham, the Pledge Creator, joined by:
- John Angliss
- Alex Hilton
- Guido Fawkes
- Joe Taylor
- Tristan MIlls
- Bernie Hughes
- Gavin Whenman
- Ian Ridley
- Will Howells
- Stephen Glenn
- Tim Ireland
- Justin McKeating
- Scott Matthewman
- Garry Smith
- Dave Lambert
- Neil Bell
- Wonko
- Mat Bowles
- Duncan Stephen
- Tom Phillips
- Darren
- Davide Simonetti
- scotch
- Loz Pycock
- William Bryan
- Neil Hopkins
- Charlie Whitaker
- reuben speed
- Vicky Ayech
- keith young
- Sabretache
- Prodicus
- Chris Redmond
- Larry Elwes
- Steve Robinson
- J Clive matthews
- Mary Critchley
- Ricardo Gladwell
- Clive Summerfield
- Ian Clenshaw
- Roland Dunn
- Thomas Paternoster
- Ben Goodger
- Jon Wasey
- Alison Swaddle
- will barry
- Andy Ellis
- Richard Fairhurst
- Owen Blacker
- Daniel Hoffmann-Gill
- Pietro Ferreira
- The Moai
- The Nameless Tory
- Richard Littlejohn
- Oscar Wildebeest
- Becky Leyland
- Sir Arthur Grebe-Streebling
- Stephen Glynn
- Gary Andrews
- Steve N
- Chris Black
- Gary Barford
- Jack Thomas
- Bryan McGrath
- Aaron J Trevena
- Jon Neal
- Simon Roe
- Jude Kenn
- Marcus Beltran
- Dave Radcliffe
- Philip Challinor
- Ian Brown
- Laura Coventry
- Amanda Fraser
- Walter Fraser
- Liam Dooley
- Sam Nall
- William
- Kieran McGrath
- Dan Inch
- Alison Goldsworthy
- Dominic Mathon
- Iain Weaver
- Thomas Barry
- Jock Coats
- Dominic Tristram
- Alexandra Runswick
- Julian Bowman
- Mark Valladares
- Mike Cripps
- Laura Morgan
- 9 people who did not want to give their names
- 3 people who signed up via mobile
Suggested pledges
Some of the people who signed this pledge also signed these pledges...
- give £36 to a fund to hire the services of an ex-cabinet minister (4 people)
- Help David Davis win re-election by doing anything i can (1 person)
- refuse to accept a national ID card (1 person)
- pay £5 towards the campaign to put an atheist advert on the side of a London bus (1 person)
- spend an hour OpenStreetMapping features on Caribbean islands from Yahoo! aerial imagery and will also donate £10 to the OpenStreetMap Foundation (1 person)
- raise £50 in 2 years so that LCA can contest one region in the European Elections (1 person)
So if you do sign the pledge and write him a letter please be constructive!
On the positive side, I'm delighted so many people have signed up so far - keep them coming!
There's a fine puff piece on primeminister.gov.uk but no damn link. Cowardly, I think.
scotch
nice and easy to get eh?
s
It all sounds rather jolly
Rt Hon Jack Straw MP,
Leader of the House of Commons
and
Nigel Griffiths MP
Deputy Leader of the House of Commons
http://www.commonsleader.gov.uk/output/p...
Commons Leader website contact page:
"If you have any reason to contact the Leader of the House or his Deputy, please write to them at:
2 Carlton Gardens
London
SW1Y 5AA
Or if you wish, contact us by:
Telephone:
020 7210 1025
Fax:
020 7210 1075
E-mail:
Leader@CommonsLeader.x.gsi.gov.uk
Deputy@CommonsLeader.x.gsi.gov.uk
For all media enquires please contact 020 7210 1092 in the first instance."
Dear Mr Straw
In voicing your understandable concern about Government departments being overloaded by questions from researchers, you criticised "these websites called TheyWorkForYou which simply seem to measure MPs' work by quantitative rather than qualitative measures".
This criticism is misplaced. The TheyWorkForYou site includes the following caveat:
"we realise that data such as the number of debates spoken in means little in terms of an MP's actual performance. MPs do lots of useful things which we don't count yet, and some which we never could. Even when we do, a count doesn't measure the quality of an MPs contribution. ... Our advice — when you're judging your MP, read some of their speeches, check out their website, even go to a local meeting and ask them a question. Use TheyWorkForYou as a gateway, rather than a simple place to find a number measuring competence."
I would also suggest that, in a representative democracy with a Freedom of Information Act, if Government departments are unequal to the task of providing answers to the questions asked by members of the public, the problem lies with the departments rather than with "researchers trying to prove a point".
Regards, etc.
Not sure if this is a standard reply or not, so I am a bit reluctant to publish it online in full - email me if you have also received one and we can compare notes.
Essentially he blames "external websites" for the increase in Questions , and gives statistcs on the current and future estimates of the numbers of Questions etc.
He claims cross-party support for "Something To Be Done", and hints that A Parliamentary Committee may be looking into this subject in the future.
He does not propose any mechanisms for sanctions against Researchers or MPs who are abusing the system e.g. by publishing the names of Researchers who table each question.
He refers to Peter Duff MP's adjournment debate on 28th June:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?i...
and to an article published by the in the Hansard Society:
The House Magazine
July 10, 2006
Issue No.1183 | Vol.31
A fantasy league?
Websites that give the public statistics on MPs' activities are misleading, says Gemma Rosenblatt of the Hansard Society
http://www.epolitix.com/EN/Publications/...
{registration required)
"Since then, and following the remarks I made at Business Questions, I am pleased to note that the website TheyWorkForYou has responded to the criticisms outlined above by modifying the way it processes and presents data."
There is no hint that the Leader of the House intends to consult with the MySociety people about how things could be improved for the public.