Whatever your view of the outcome of the referendum, you probably agree that the campaigns were threaded through with misinformation and confusion. We might hope that we are past that point, but as the debate about how we will negotiate the UK's exit from the European Union (EU) develops we are being exposed to more and distractions and disingenuous public statements.

A considerable amount of research funding comes to the UK from the EU through the Horizon 2020 (H2020) scheme [1]. This programme is providing over 80 billion Euros in grants over the period 2014 to 2020 and is envisioned as a means to drive economic growth and create jobs within the EU's member nations. The stated aim is to ensure Europe produces world-class science, removes barriers to innovation and makes it easier for the public and private sectors to work together in delivering innovation.

The chief beneficiaries of H2020 grants are research institutions (universities and independent research organisations) and the R&D arms of large companies [2], however there is a goal that 20% of the monies will go to small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Despite the zombie IP Bill (Snooper's Charter) being knocked back to the depths from whence it came repeatedly, Teresa May's dark magic managed to revive the bill time and time again. Sadly the lack of opposition from Labour helped facilitate this bill and now it's creator is set to be our next Prime Minister.

Her coronation to PM is a sad day for privacy advocates. While our ISPs will be keeping hordes of data on us, Teresa May will get to decide as she leads the country into paranoia and a lack of privacy what to use that data for.

A couple of weeks ago I attended a meeting of the Manchester branch of the Open Rights Group to discuss the proposed Investigatory Powers Bill known as the IPBill and currently about to be discussed and voted on by the House of Lords.

The meeting included a showing of The Haystack (http://thehaystackdocumentary.squarespace.com/watch/) a short documentary film about surveillance in the UK. We then had an open discussion of the film and the IPBill with a panel including Gary Herman from the National Union of Journalists, Gary Hough from Zen Internet, Loz Kaye from Open Intelligence, and myself.

While recognising the threats posed by terrorism, paedophilia, and organised crime, the room seemed unanimous in its belief that the IPBill is poorly conceived, lacking in detail, and over-reaching in its powers. For some background on the IPBill see https://wiki.openrightsgroup.org/wiki/Investigatory_Powers_Bill.

Last night was the council's AGM (and my first one), which took place between 19:15 and 19:30. Cllr David Crompton stood down as Chairperson and Deputy Cllr Ann Barnaby was elected unanimously as the new Chairperson.

I was also elected to be the Deputy Vale of Glamorgan Community Liaison, taking over from Cllr Steve Haines.

Following that our usual meeting took place from 19:30.

We briefly discussed the brown site development of the Old Boys Village which has become a popular Urbex site. I say briefly because everyone who spoke on the matter was simply in support of the site's development, save concerns over the lane giving access to the housing. The site is to be mostly dismantled apart from the iconic Church and Caretaker's hut to allow new homes to be built. I am very delighted this application was made and wholly support it. Some details-for-joy are: