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Democracy Club, the non-profit dedicated to making the UK’s democratic processes work better, is looking for new board members.

It’s a non-profit with an amazing track record of achievement — and they want to appoint board members to help them do more, faster.

Deomocracy Club consists of a tiny full-time team and big group of brilliant volunteers on a vital mission to use open data, design and technology to give every citizen the information and participation opportunities they need, in a way that suits them. They are strictly non-partisan — and they work openly.

You may have used their services  to find polling stations, learn about candidates and to engage in the democratic process. You may even have added details of a candidate you are working for.T

They are looking for directors who can provide entrepreneurial experience and leadership to help set Democracy Club’s strategic objectives and help us to ensure that we have the necessary financial and human resources in place to meet those objectives.

Full details can be found on the Democracy Club website and there’s also a Google Doc with more, including how to apply.

The security of UK food supply is a key priority for the Government, particularly in light of the UK’s forthcoming withdrawal from the EU. This note outlines current UK trade in food and animal feed, examines the challenges raised to the security of UK food supply by withdrawal from the EU and analyses the policy options available for improving UK food security.

Read the full POSTnote here: http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/POST-PN-0556

Agricultural practices can reduce water quality, degrade soils and cause biodiversity loss. This in turn can disrupt natural processes that support food production. Environmentally sustainable agriculture seeks to reduce environmental damage and restore such processes. This POSTnote summarises associated land management options, agricultural policies and the constraints imposed by a new trading environment.

Read the full POSTnote here: http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/POST-PN-0557

Internet search engines and social media platforms are an increasingly popular way of accessing news and information. In 2017, the proportion of UK adults consuming news online exceeded those who watched news on TV (74% versus 69%). This note considers how people access news online, how algorithms (sequences of instructions) and social networks influence the content that users see, and options for mitigating any negative impact.

Read the full POSTnote here: https://post.parliament.uk/research-briefings/post-pn-0559/

Unfortunately, Windows 7 machines are still not able to log into the VPN, but you can still log into them as a ‘local’ machine.  The IT folks are still working on getting these machines connected, and hopefully everything will be up and running next week.

As things settle down following the ‘sustained and determined’ cyberattack on Parliamentary IT systems , Daniel Thornton of the Institute for Government has posted an article  in which he says  that MPs are particularly vulnerable and need to take responsibility for their cyber security.

You can read it on their website.  Daniel notes that ‘the parliamentary authorities, drawing upon advice from NCSC, do provide support to MPs. But MPs are often too busy to take advantage of this support and many do not understand the issues involved.,

And he goes on to say:

Three steps could be taken to support cyber security in Parliament. Firstly, MPs must better understand digital technology. Secondly, MPs must make use of the help that is already on offer from parliamentary authorities. Finally, parliamentary authorities must improve digital and online security.

However like many commentators he seems to believe that MPs run their own systems, and doesn’t consider the skills and capabilities of staff, who need support to learn and deal with these many risks.

Remote access to email is currently limited following the discovery of an attack intended to disclose passwords.  This also limits remote access to the intranet.

On June 24 a parliamentary spokesperson said:

“We have discovered unauthorised attempts to access accounts of parliamentary networks users and are investigating this ongoing incident, working closely with the National Cyber Security Centre.

Parliament has robust measures in place to protect all of our accounts and systems, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect and secure our network.

As a precaution we have temporarily restricted remote access to the network.

As a result, some Members of Parliament and staff cannot access their email accounts outside of Westminster.

IT services on the Parliamentary Estate are working normally.

We will continue to keep Members of both Houses of Parliament and the public updated as the situation develops.”