The NSPCC have demanded the government considers “all available options” after Facebook refused to ban a controversial viral video. The clip – which has doing the rounds for days – shows an Indonesian child carer repeatedly dunking a baby in a bucket of water, a process apparently known as “baby yoga“. Causing the children’s charity to pile in in a letter to the government:
“we would also urge you to look at all available options which will ensure UK citizens, including millions of children, are no longer exposed to this kind of dreadful and disturbing content”
Facebook say they won’t ban the video because such a decision would prevent charities from “raising awareness of the atrocities which are going on around the world”. Government-enforced bans on content deemed distateful by charities would set a troublesome precedent…
Digital Dave’s technology guru Joanna Shields has left her role as chair of Tech City UK and will be shuffled upstairs as the new Minister for Internet Safety and Security. Baroness Shields, who once headed up Bebo, Facebook Europe and Google for Europe, Middle East and Africa, left the private sector at the peak of her career to take up a cushy £115,000 job as CEO of Tech City. Cynics have suggested that Shields planned on using the role as a stepping stone for feathering a seats-on-boards-of-companies nest…
Shields’ three year tenure as CEO saw her bolster her reputation for turning up to government meetings with perfectly coiffed hair and expensive shoes, while the taxpayer-funded Tech City conitinued on a mildly successful PR campaign to rebrand East London as Britain’s Silicon Valley. The PM duly rewarded Shields for her service with a Peerage, and now she’s in government. Keep an eye out for Techno’s runners and riders to be the new chair…
Digital Dave’s pet technology quango Tech City is on the verge of having its funding pulled following a rift between the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and Joanna Shields, the chair of Tech City UK. According to Tech World, BIS have finally had enough of dolling out £2 million of taxpayer cash a year to what has turned out to be nothing more than an expensive PR project.
Astonishingly, Innovate UK, another BIS quango will fund Tech City out of their £400m budget. Is there no way to unhook them from the state’s teat?
Following revelations that the government’s inept technology quango Tech City had only managed to dole out 7 of its allocated 200 Exceptional Talent visas, their Chairwoman Baroness Shields has surfaced in the Times to explain things. Apparently the failure to get more than 10 people to apply for the valuable visas is a sign of the UK being a “global tech hub”:
“With nine individuals accepted since launch, the figure of 200 is not a target but rather a maximum allowance. This is testament to the UK’s leadership as a global tech hub considering this is the first year for the visa route.”
Funny then, that Shields’ taxpayer funded organisation refused to admit how many visas they had allocated until they were forced to do so by an FOI. The equivalent US Visa scheme was oversubscribed by 87,500…
