MPs: We're afraid of embarrasment on YouTube

This actually made me laugh.

Parliament's youngest MP (and that's relevant), Jo Swinson, has called for an end to the ban on reuse of clips of Parliament on YouTube .. and blogs ... and news sites - it's about a lot more than YouTube.

Parliament should be embracing new technology as a way to reconnect with the public, so isn't it about time we ditched the ridiculous ban on Parliamentary clips being shown on YouTube?

If there is a copyright issue, will the House authorities review the current contracts and bring Parliament into the 21st century?

Video clips of debates in Parliament can be hosted on MPs' personal websites, but the rules currently ban their use on YouTube and other video streaming sites.

I personally think that the more people see what goes on in Parliament, the better, which is why I am pushing for the rules to be changed.

This is fundamentally an issue about Parliament reforming itself to keep up-to-date with modern technology.

Er, unfortunately she's not got a clip of her saying this on her own blog (which is allowed), but I'd be breaking the law if I added it here anyway.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

Another LibDem (you mean they don't have a policy?!), Nick Harvey, who represents MPs interests in such pant-wetting matters and whose website is down at writing, responded that:

At the moment the rule is that the clips can be streamed to be viewed in real time, but not downloaded in such a way that they can be manipulated at a future point

My god! The horror! MPs manipulated! Stop it before I s*%@t myself for the fear of it :{} Must leave that to the TV satirists and not the public!

You can see why I'm laughing.

NB: I 'manipulated' Mr Harvey's image. I believe that's still legal.

Serious point: I would have liked to have shown you the Home Office's response to intense questioning in the Lords over Mehdi Kazemi and gay refugees. Not only can't I do that without flouting the law, also I couldn't find the b****y thing in a 7 hour session. God help the general public. I could, however, legally republish clips from the European Parliament - who obviously don't hide in fear of 'manipulation' by evil bloggers.

Postscript: Jo tells me that she actually has to buy the clips, hence not yet on her blog ... ya laugh, ya cry ...