http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/20 ... gal-battle

I'm quite surprised that Twitter did that tbh (unless they really had no option legally), cos I fully expect an army of tw@s from around the world now demanding all sorts

I also predict the council will come out of this looking like utter morons, and corrupt ones at that...

In some way, I hope that this is the downfall of twitter. They should never have breached confidentiality IMO.

The credibility of this twitter user to have had access to priviledged information that would mean the defendant is probably as innocent as anyone else. The name of Ryan Giggs was wandering around for several weeks before the eventual exposure. Plus as a former Miss Wales wouldn't she most likely to go after a welsh football player? So once the name of Imogen Thomas was common knowledge it would make Ryan Giggs the most obvious target. He also had a bad reputation re women from some time ago when he was a trainee. I know bugger all about football but it was pretty logical to work out. As for free speech it depends on what the courts say, but considering that they might close ranks when a judgement is involved might inflame things further.

Have a read at this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-13588284

And then look who crops up here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... d-job.html

In fact, long story short, Private Eye has been reporting on him and Malcolm for years

Unlikely but it looks good in the press.


Again unlikely considering that these will be private civil suits that are brought against the blogger. It looks like a way to cover up corruption. Seems both parties are tarnished there.

TBH I think having councillors is largely a waste of time, they don't get to decide much and when they do it's all party political and not in the interests of local people.

Instead I think we should just have local government as an administrative layer, with some sort of independent appeals panel should the authority make a decision you don't agree with.

It adds a layer of expense as well. The actual running of the council is down to the staff. If you want a bin placed somewhere or emptied there is very little that they can actually do, All they are allowed to do is make a request of the department who can simply ignore them. The same principle applies to MP's. If you were to go to an MP and a councillor to bring up an issue in your council, they would probably have the same level of success. Though I do see councillors as being useful for a number of reasons. My local council is now run by the greens. They are making changes which have capped top pay. While it might drive off the top people it will mean much more in the way of promotion prospects for those below. In fact the top people may actually not be worth the money anyway. Case in point Sharon Shoesmith, who was head of Social services for Haringay. £173 000 a year and the department was a mess.

If you want freedom of speech you should be prepared to be in the spotlight, especially using a social network like twitter. Idiot