Category News

July 26, 2020,  Guru in a Bottle, News  No comments

Since the brutal murder of George Floyd, much of the debate has focused on police brutality and reforming the police. Yet systemic prejudice still exists in the US. And there’s no getting away from it – every day in the US, an unarmed citizen killed by American police forces are disproportionately black.

As the Economist newspaper recently reported in its briefing on ‘Race in America’ (July 11-17, 2020): ‘That most brutal of injustices explains much of the power, the extent and the focus of the protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd, protests that have drawn a level of attention to race relations unseen since the 1970s.’

Clayborne Carson, a historian at S...

July 5, 2020,  News  No comments

This is an article by historian Dinyar Patel that was posted on the BBC News website on Sunday 5 July 2020.

Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) is an unfamiliar name these days.

Yet, aside from being the first Asian to sit in the House of Commons, he was also the most important leader in India before Mahatma Gandhi, as well as being an anti-racist and anti-imperialist of global significance.

Now, more than ever, amidst various global crises, he deserves to be remembered.

His life is a stirring testament to the pow...

June 3, 2020,  News  No comments

May 29, 2020,  News  No comments

When I was working in BBC News & Current Affairs in the late 80s/early 90s, the internet was in its infancy and there wasn’t Facebook or YouTube or Twitter.

Also, we had the BBC Guidelines, under DG John Birt, that provided guidance on balance, impartiality and how certain news items were to be reported, particularly during election times, etc.  These days, with 24-hour rolling news and the fragmentation of media and audiences, it’s that much harder to be heard, so journalists use social media as another channel to engage with the audience.

It will be interesting to see what former-BBC boss Richard Sambrook advises in how the BBC continues to steer a path of neutrality i...

May 29, 2020,  Council of Ministers, data protection, EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, European Data Protection Supervisor, News, Thought Leadership  No comments

Having left the European Union (EU) on 31 January 2020, the UK is currently in a Brexit transition period that runs out on 31 December 2020. Whilst the other 27 Member States of the EU have been grappling with containing the Covid-19 pandemic, you could be forgiven for thinking these countries as well as the UK have taken their eyes off the ball when it comes to striking a Brexit deal.

If you think that to be the case, think again.

If the UK wants an extension, it will need to ask for this by 30 June 2020 and the European Commission has already indicated that in the circumstances this would be granted...

September 28, 2018,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, European Commission, Legal update, News  No comments

Time has almost run out for EU-US Privacy Shield. It’s highly probable that by 18 October 2018, the European Commission will agree with the European Parliament vote taken in July 2018 to suspend EU-US Privacy Shield, the international data sharing agreement between the US and the European Union.

This won’t come as any surprise within the data privacy community and in many respects has been on the cards since the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica scandal earlier this year that underlined the importance of monitoring mechanisms intended to protect citizens from the misuse of their personal data on an industrial scale.

But it would be wrong to write off Privacy Shield as ...

July 2, 2018,  News  No comments

Sir John was personally responsible for recruiting me to the BBC as the first Radio Journalist Trust Trainee back in 1989.

This evening, he was interviewed by veteran BBC Presenter Robin Lustig about his incredible career at BBC World Service, BBC TV, Wolfson College Cambridge, Barbican Centre, Clore Leadership Programme and the University of the Arts London.

His new book – Making A Noise – Getting It Right, Getting It Wrong in Life, the Arts and Broadcasting is published by Orion Books.

June 1, 2018,  EU General Data Protection Regulation, News  No comments

This is an interview on the practical issues facing companies and organisations in complying with the GDPR.

To watch again, click here

June 1, 2018,  News  No comments

TSB recently sent out apology letters for the disruption caused to millions of its customers for a significant IT failure leading to personal data breaches. That would’ve been OK – had it not been sent to the wrong people…so customers received OTHER customers’ apology letter. Is this a regulation or reputation issue? Listen again here 

May 30, 2018,  GDPR Handbook, Legal update, News  No comments

Interviewed on the ‘zombie GDPR emails’ news story running on the BBC after I had posted the blog on LinkedIn. You can listen to my interview again here