Leaders Update - From Venice to Toxteth: We need more Pirates for Europe
10th April 2013 23:19 by Loz Kaye
Loz Kaye - Party Leader
It's certainly never a dull moment as PP-UK Leader. Since my last update I have been busy advocating for our politics, including a lecture at the London School of Economics, meetings at the House of Commons, attending events about open data and taking part at the international "Rethinking the Internet" conference in Venice.
Opinion: Cameron Wants to Forget The Right to be Forgotten
7th April 2013 19:52 by BlogEditor
Online privacy is something I feel very strongly about, and when I heard about the current government's plans to opt out of new EU social media laws, I decided enough was enough and it was time to take bigger stand. I won’t get into the depths of my views in this post but here is a brief idea of the situation.
Branches, Candidates and the Next Steps.
7th April 2013 02:05 by Andy Halsall
The Party is coming out of a fairly hectic period, we have a new treasurer, a new press officer, many new board members and we have been working hard to deal with the transitions as well as all the correspondence and ideas that have come in from members and non-members alike. So, for the last month or so much of our focus has been internal and it is about time we turned back to the work that actually gets our ideas out to people in the UK.
So, over the next few days we will be going over out what the campaigns team has and will be working on in the next few months. If you have any suggestions or want to get involved in any way, let us know.
This post also talks about Local Organisation, a Candidates Call, European Elections, another call for board candidates and more..
Opinion: £53 and the Problem With UK Politics
4th April 2013 15:37 by Andrew Norton
Andrew Norton - Pirate Party Member
The current furore over the Work and Pensions Minister, Ian Duncan Smith, is highlighting not just the glibness of modern politicians when speaking to the media, but also that much of the media is focused on partisan bickering rather than on the reporting of news. There are two main aspects to this story. The first is the promise made by Ian Duncan Smith, and the second is the response to it.
Opinion: Rethinking the Internet
3rd April 2013 01:24 by Loz Kaye
Loz Kaye - Party Leader
There is a joke from where I come from: A man is out lost wandering on Dartmoor desperately trying to get home. Eventually he comes across a farm. He asks the farmer “how do you get to Plymouth from here?” The farmer replies “I wouldn't start from here if I were you.”
Opinion: Developments in Future Politics
3rd April 2013 00:58 by Chris Monteiro

The Case for Open Access.
30th March 2013 16:10 by BlogEditor
A large proportion of academic research in the UK is taxpayer-funded. The money comes either via grants from the Research Councils, on which the government spends approximately £3 billion each year, or directly to universities from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which in 2011-12 distributed £1.6 billion.
The transformative potential of world-class research is pretty clear. In the last few years alone, UK researchers have developed the wonder material graphene and discovered the body of Richard III, among other things. Yet, in a curious and inequitable twist of fate, the results of this research have for the most part never been made available to the taxpayers who funded it. Instead, research findings are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals run by private publishing companies. In the modern era, these largely take the form of PDFs behind pay-walls, tantalisingly close and yet inaccessible to those who aren't willing to fork out $40 per view. Universities and libraries, meanwhile, can buy back-breakingly expensive subscriptions to this content. The net result of all this is that research findings are available only to the wealthy and to research institutions themselves, and even then only at great cost.
Opinion: Libel Reform, And Why It Matters To Britain
30th March 2013 16:05 by Andrew Norton
The risk of libel reform failing is not one that any Briton should find acceptable. The damage our libel laws have caused over the decades is immeasurable, and has only increased since the advent of the internet.
York: Speaking for the Pirate Party UK
30th March 2013 13:25 by Leanne Ainsworth
On Tuesday the 12th of March 2013 I spoke to a group of students at York university to give them an introduction to the party. I was greeted by the leader of the New Generation society and was given a brief tour around the campus and shown where I would be giving my talk to the group.
Leaders Update - There's never been a better time to go Pirate
7th March 2013 17:16 by Loz Kaye
We've had quite a few new members join the party since my last update. So welcome all, and thanks to all of you who continue to be part of this party and those of you who have volunteered to help. We've been through quite a big media focus recently and it's time to expand our work on the ground to cope with the interest in Pirate politics. So that means a new and bigger team. We have a new board and it's time to expand the team further, we'll need new people to help with press, new candidates, new treasury team, new people to support my work as Leader, help with ongoing policy, and new members for the board.
