Northern Ireland Executive engages e-democracy

While the Northern Ireland Assembly have taken a fair lead in the online government stakes with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube, the Northern Ireland Executive is catching up. 

The NI Executive is finally embracing the social media phenomenon and have created their own presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr.

Northern Ireland is beginning to really take to the online world with more and more governmental institutions going online and we even have NIDirect as a kind of one stop online shop for the public facing side of government.  They are also on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.  NIDirect is also an excellent place to find the social media capabilities of the rest of government. Check out the Local Councils page to see what I mean.

A lot of local councils are also embracing social media as a conversational tool with constituents such as Belfast City Council who are also on Twitter and Facebook.

One of the best uses of social media for engagement is the PSNI Ards, PSNI Holywood, PSNI Ballymena and PSNI Bangor Facebook accounts. People really engage with what is going on and enjoy a bit of banter from the police accounts.  They especially enjoy hearing about criminals getting caught!

Even some Non Departmental Public Bodies like InvestNI and PBNI are on Twitter.

So the Executive is in good and growing company.

Perhaps we could show the World how online engagement can be done?  

Peppa Pig is a very naughty girl and won't belt up

The BBC have done a nice wee piece on Peppa Pig being a naughty girl and not belting up when in the Pig family big red car.

Parents have raised concerns over thier own children following Peppa's example of NOT wearing her seatbelt. It is something i have been concerned about, having a 3 year old and a 2 year old, who love Peppa Pig (the Christmas presents can attest to that!!).

The way we get around this is to concentrate on Dora the Explorer, who has a catchphrase

'We put on our seatbelts so we can be safe'

It sounds a bit namby pamby but having a couple wee bairns that depend on you so much, you want to instil good examples in them as they grow up, and being safe in the car is one of them. And how quickly they pick up the things you don't want them to is scary.

The animators of Peppa Pig, Astley Baker Davies have replied the the BBC saying that Peppa Pig will be seen wearing a seatbelt in future episodes and that the first and second series will also re-animated scenes to reflect the new policy.

Good. We don't want Daddy Pig to get points on his licence now do we?? He has enough trouble from Mummy Pig!

Now, who is next?? Ah, Noddy! PC Plod could really bring in the dough with the amount of traffic infringements Noddy keeps committing. With the powers the PSNI are looking for in Northern Ireland, Noddy could soon be walking around Toytown AND see his little car either auctioned or crushed. And we wouldn't want our kids to see that. Or would we? :)

Stop yer drinkin' n' drivin', ya clamppet!! - Shock call by ACC McCausland for capital punishment

Just to discuss something other than Robinsongate, I note that the BBC reports a piece on drink-driving.

The BBC notes that out of 5780 tests, there were 414 drink-drivers caught over the limit during Christmas. Three were PSNI officers. The officers, off-duty when they were caught (thank goodness for small mercies!) have been suspended and could be fast-tracked for dismissal as the PSNI considers drink-driving as a severe breach of its code of ethics and a sackable offence.

A really interesting part to the article was the call by Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland for new powers to seize and destroy the cars of convicted drink-drivers. Under current Scottish law, people's cars can be taken to be crushed or auctioned if they are repeat offenders.

Not sure though if ACC McCausland quite grasped what he was saying when he gave out his warning to drink-drivers on radio, and repeated in the BBC piece

"You lose your licence, you lose your car, you could lose your liberty and also sadly, you could lose your life"

You heard it here folks. ACC McCausland is calling for capital punishment for drink-drivers!

He threatens that if you are caught you will lose your licence, car, liberty and life (even though, it seems, this last bit is with a heavy heart).

OK, OK - I know what he is getting at, but his use of grammar in this instance is a bit ..... off.

I have to say though I would support this power for the police, once the drink-driving incident has been proven through the normal procedures. However, I would not be in favour of crushing the car - much better to send it to auction and recoup some money for our public services.

What was slightly disconcerting as well was that the youngest offender during Christmas was 16. Yup, that's right 16! Methinks, he or she may have been breaking a few other laws, like not having a licence for instance. Then again he, or she, could have been a drunken screwball in charge of an Mowing machine or a Moped - yes thats right a 16 year old can be on the road driving a mowing machine or on a moped. I hope for his or her own credibility it was a moped.