Press

I frequently give talks and am quoted in articles about the FOI Act. If you want me to speak at your event, a quote for an article or report, or to generally pick my brains then drop me an email: mattburgess100@gmail.com. BBC Radio 2: Jeremy Vine show: I went on Jeremy Vine’s BBC Radio 2 …

Government refuse to publish date of legal approval for deadly Syria drone strike

The Attorney General’s Office has refused to publish the date and time the legal approval was given to kill British citizen and ISIS fighter Reyaad Khan.  Khan was killed by a targeted drone strike in Syria on August 21st after intelligence lead officials to believe he was planning to murder British citizens. David Cameron told the …

Police privacy considerations for facial recognition technology

Police are using facial recognition software, this isn’t new, but it is going to be a growing tactic in coming years.  Leicestershire Police is one of the UK forces that is pushing the boundaries with using the technology for policing purposes, but it has been heavily criticsed for its apparent underhand tactics. As with all collection of a …

Met Police concede RIPA FOI request about journalists’ sources wasn’t vexatious

I am not vexatious. The Metropolitan Police has conceded it was wrong to slap a vexatious label on my Freedom of Information request probing its use of the snooping law RIPA on journalists and their sources. The change in position wasn’t one that followed deep reflection and consideration of all the issues, it was prompted by …

Prince Charles’ disappearing letters? 

Update: The internal review by the DCMS found that they in fact didn’t hold any records and were wrong to say that they did.  Their response:  “Regarding your second point concerning the email you received on 5 May, I have spoken to relevant colleagues regarding the handling of your request and the reason for extending …

Thank you, thank you, thank you 

My book is complete, it’s been published and is out there in the wild. This is just a short post to say thank you to a huge number of people who helped out during the researching, writing and editing process. There was a considerable amount of kindness, patience, and help provided to me by a …

‘Please wind the Prime Ministers clock’

It’s well known that the House of Commons and the House of Lords (Westminster Palace) are falling down and need repairing. Below is a list – that I haven’t had time to do anything with – of non-scheduled maintenance work that was done during the last year. The list of 8,000 call-outs is mostly general repairs, …

If you get an FOI response like this, you should challenge it

Here’s the BBC showing how not to answer and FOI request. I, optimistically, asked for copies of the interviews Jeremy Clarkson and the other Top Gear team we’re involved in after the fracas that saw the host get fired. The BBC then provided this pitiful response as an answer to the FOI request… A response …

6,000 passive aggressive poems sent to Transport for London

Londoners love being passive aggressive and what better way is there to be passive aggressive than writing it in an anonymous poem? That’s what happened when Transport for London invited commuters to submit poems for a competition to see them being made into actual posters and put up around the travel network. Man spreaders, companies …

National policing organisation

The National Police Chiefs Council replaced the police body ACPO earlier this year. Essentially it is the same organisation but it’s one that should still be as open as possible as it oversees and advises on a lot of the national policing policy. So, here’s a list of who is in charge of who is …