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Written by Kevin Dunion, the first Scottish Information Commissioner, this uniquely informed text provides detailed commentary on the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004. Fully referenced to the Commissioner's own decisions and court judgements, it also considers in detail key issues of interpretation since the law came into effect. It is an essential handbook for anyone working with, or using, freedom of information law in Scotland.
1. Troublemakers; 2. Whose Environment is it anyway?; 3. Cowboys and Sheriffs; 4. Small Lives, Big Risks; 5. Jobs versus the Environment; 6. Best Laid Plans; 7. Trying to Silence the Troublemakers; 8. What do you know?; 9. Environmental Justice for Scotland.
Many people today feel that something has gone wrong with British society and British politics. The quality of like seems to be declining. Crime soars. Traffic and pollution spiral. Mass unemployment is undiminished, while many people experience insecurity and stress at work. Growing poverty and inequality have left many of Britain's citizens excluded from mainstream society. Everywhere, the sense of community seems to be breaking down. In the world as a whole, poverty and conflict cause immense suffering and threaten the security of nations. Global environmental degradation - from the greenhouse effect to the destruction of rainforests - makes the very future of the planet uncertain. Yet th...
Environmental activists and academics alike are realizing that a sustainable society must be a just one. Environmental degradation is almost always linked to questions of human equality and quality of life. Throughout the world, those segments of the population that have the least political power and are the most marginalized are selectively victimized by environmental crises. This book argues that social and environmental justice within and between nations should be an integral part of the policies and agreements that promote sustainable development. The book addresses the links between environmental quality and human equality and between sustainability and environmental justice.
Now a vital part of the British system of government, the 2005 Freedom of Information Act also plays an important role in developing local democracy. This detailed review explores the need for freedom of information in modern liberal democracies, and addresses how the accountability of local authorities may best be ensured.
Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists is written to inform, instruct and inspire journalists on the investigative possibilities offered by the Freedom of Information Act. Covering exactly what the Act is, how to make FOI requests and how to use the Act to hold officials to account, Matt Burgess utilises expert opinions, relevant examples and best practice from journalists and investigators working with the Freedom of Information Act at all levels. The book is brimming with illuminating and relevant examples of the Freedom of Information Act being used by journalists, alongside a range of helpful features, including: • end-of-chapter lists of tips and learning points; • sections addressing the different areas of FOI requests; • text boxes on key thoughts and cases; • interviews with leading contemporary journalists and figures working with FOI requests. Supported by the online FOI Directory (www.foidirectory.co.uk), Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists is a must read for all those training or working as journalists on this essential tool for investigating, researching and reporting.
Many issues such as access for the disabled, childcare facilities, environmental matters, and ethnic minority issues are excluded from town planning considerations by planning authorities. This book introduces the concept of `social town planning' to integrate planning policy and practices with the cultural and social issues of the people they are planning for. Part 1 provides background on the development of a social dimension to the predominantly physical, land use based, British town planning system. Part 2 investigates a representative selection of minority planning topics, in respect of gender, race, age and disability, cross-linked to the implications for mainstream policy areas such a...
Fear has become an ever-expanding part of life in the West in the twenty-first century. We live in terror of disease, abuse, stranger danger, environmental devastation and terrorist onslaught. We are bombarded with reports of new concerns for our safety and that of our children, and urged to take greater precautions and seek more protection. But compared to the past, or to the developing world, people in contemporary Western societies have much less familiarity with pain, suffering, debilitating disease and death. We actually enjoy an unprecedented level of personal safety. When confronted with events like the destruction of the World Trade Center, fear for the future is inevitable. But what...
This comprehensive and innovative Research Handbook tackles the pressing issues confronting us at the dawn of the global network society, including freedom of speech, government transparency and the digital divide. Engaging with controversial problems of public policy including freedom of expression, copyright and information inequality, the Research Handbook on Information Policy offers a well-rounded exploration of the history and future of this vital field.
In the encyclical Laodato Si, Pope Francis describes the earth as ‘the new poor’, opening it up as a place in need of liberation. The fate of the poor, the marginalised, and those on the wrong side of the western colonial project is inextricably tied up with the fate of the planet. In A Liberation for the Earth Anupama Ranawana explores the nexus between climate, race and the liberative potential of the cross. Reflecting on the entanglement between colonialization and the destruction of the planet, she considers how this entanglement is played out and resisted within faith based and secular ecological justice movements in Canada, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom.