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boris johnson re-elected Mayor
Rex Ejimonyeabala Chairman
ON a night when the Conservative party suffered heavy losses across England, Scotland and Wales in council elections, the London mayoral elections proved that the Tories were able to maintain a feeble stronghold on a key seat in City Hall. Boris Johnson solidified his position as a prominent conservative politician by bucking the trend which saw the party lose council seats to Labour. Tory cabinet member Brian Ransley even lost his seat in Tunbridge Wells to Lib Dem candidate Hugh Patterson. In a closely fought campaign, Johnson needed the second preference vote to win by only a margin of 3% as he was unable to gain an outright 51% majority of voters. He was the only major success story for the Tories whose position was dealt a blow with public confidence low due to austerity cuts and a double dip recession. The Liberal Democrats also had a dis-
proportionately dismal two days, not only losing council seats around the country, but with the evident public distrust manifested in Brian Paddick’s slip to fourth in the Mayoral race behind The Green party’s Jenny Jones. It was a collectively miserable night for the coalition government which only complimented Labour leader, Ed Miliband’s directorship of the shadow party. Speaking on his loss, Labour candidate Ken Livingstone said, ‘I am truly sorry that I couldn’t pull this victory off’. His campaign, which focused on reducing transport fares and building affordable council homes, was predominantly eclipsed by revelations of his alleged income tax evasion. Johnson, on the other hand, plans to reduce council tax, increase police presence on the streets and create 200,000 jobs with transport and housing regeneration projects. The most pressing question rising from Johnson’s narrow victory lies in whether he can now deliver a successful Olympics and create the post-games legacy that has always been promised.
government consults on web filters Daniela Prataviera DAVID Cameron has given his support to the debate on the accessibility of online materials by publicly backing plans to have automatic filters installed by internet providers. This means that customers would be automatically provided with familyfriendly internet. They would be required to contact their service provider directly if they wanted to remove the filter to access any illicit materials. The PM is set to consult with industry insiders to gauge the possibility of such filters, after campaigns called for their widespread usage last year. This comes just a month after the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced that it would not pursue the idea, saying it went against civil liberty. Downing Street insiders have been quick to defend, stating that the PMs involvement shows that no ideas are off the table, but that the Coalition is keen to implement legislation that is both ethically justifiable and technically possible. Claire Perry MP - one of the principle Conservative politicians campaigning for these new blocks - told The Daily Mail Online: “I’m really pleased. Cautiously pleased. It shows that Number Ten and particularly David Cameron is taking this issue really seriously.” The biggest area of concern for the campaign is the ease of access to pornography by children. For several years, Internet Service Providers have offered
customers the option of family- friendly filters, but have been reluctant to introduce a mandatory block. It is regarded as an infringement of privacy, and many argue that it is the individuals responsibility to regulate their, and their family's, internet usage. The ISPA (Internet Service Provider Association), along with other industry insiders, have debated the technical practicalities of such measures. The blocks would be regulated by software and could potentially limit access to a host of everyday websites. One industry expert pointed out that, “without clear rules of what is illegal and what is not, even a manned system would have trouble knowing what to allow, let alone a computer programme.” The talks come after the High Court ruled that UK ISPs must block the Swedish file- sharing website, The Pirate Bay. The site was found guilty of gross breaches of copyright and its four founders sentenced in April 2009. Despite this, the block has been dismissed as “pointless”, as it can easily be circumvented using proxy servers by determined users. “The essential problem lies in the culture surrounding online porn and illegal downloads; we don't think of it as bad, so we'll just keep trying to do it.” More worryingly, some have judged the move as a potential step towards the strict censorship seen in Burma or China. One Twitter comment read, "UK ISP blocking of #piratebay is the beginning of the end - equivalent to China's censorship policy. What's next?"