Quite a scary book which confirms many of the things we already suspect such as all the databases, secrecy in Government Departments, new Quangos set up to get rid of old Quangos etc; it certainly opens your eyes about what our Taxpayers money goes on.
The book is written in an easily understandable way that makes the reader want to turn the pages to see what Heather Brooke is going to dig up next. The humour in it adds to its appeal. I’m sure she has fully researched what she has written but some of it does seem a little exaggerated, but maybe not. These days we can search for information by postcode; however does ‘Streetview’ breach our privacy?
After reading this I do see the Press (some of them anyway) in a better light. If it hadn’t been for them would MPs still be buying second homes and duck houses with our Taxpayers’ money I wonder? Although Brooke admits that the expenses scandal came to light because of a civil servant leaking information to the Telegraph, it was still a national paper that took it up.
The reason why we don’t have a British ‘Google’ makes interesting reading. Whereas, as Brooke keeps impressing upon us, information that has been paid for by our taxes is not freely available to us because it is Crown property, in the US such information is owned by the Public.
It was good to see that Heather Brooke did use actual names of the perpetrators as well as the victimised.
Newmarket Reading Group 