A delegation from the Council of Europe is currently mulling whether to invoke international monitoring of British elections. The council normally monitors countries in the Balkans and the former USSR; the only western-European nation under examination is Monaco. The stench of corruption and alleged vote rigging has finally reached the noses of those bodies who monitor despot nations and third world countries.   more »

Connecting for Health is planning to begin the implementation of the Care Record Service (CRS) in the next few weeks A spokesperson for CfH, the agency in charge of England's NHS National Programme for IT (NPfIT), told GC News that trusts acting as early adopters are likely to begin using the CRS in the spring.For the first time everyone’s most up-to-date and confidential details are to be held on one massive database. Patient Doctor confidentiality gone forever.   more »

The first of the Big Brother card and database schemes (of which there are many) has finally been scrapped. Always punted as the poor entrant to the NIR the youth opportunity card will not now see the light of day. It appears that an early assessment of progress has caused the DfES to scrap the scheme before it even got off the ground.   more »