Reasoned, intelligent research - only if it supports what they want to hear.....

Wow, twice in one week - this government just can't do anything right. When big business tells them to do something and a lot of smart, informed ask some very pertinant questions - this wonderful government seems to ignore them - or worse......

1. Mandelson's Three Strikes rule of digital copyright infringement
File this under things you never thought they'd do - but then again this Labour government have made a habit of doing things I never thought they'd do.
There are so many reasons why it's a stupid, short-sighted idea. And thankfully Cory Doctorow does a great job of summarising the whole thing over at the Times Online from October 30th. From which:

"It is not the job of government to guarantee that the business model enabled by last year’s technology will go on for ever. If it were, we would have outlawed radio to save vaudeville"

2. Government drug advisor David Nutt sacked
He puts forward the well researched idea that perhaps, just perhaps, we should look at how dangerous drugs are rather than how much they bring in in taxation. Well, he doesn't quite say that, but that's the gist of the thing. More details in the Guardian piece.