Jon Bright (London, OK): Possibly a little banal this one, but might be worth keeping an eye on, if only to try and ensure something comes out of it. Kieran Poynter, who is conducting the independent review into the bolting of 25 million bank details etc. from HMRC, has coughed up an interim report today. He has a wide enough remit, I believe, to name names and ascertain culpability, though of course he hasn't done so yet.
His preliminary recommendations include
A reminder to all staff from the Chairman of HMRC of the importance of data security with some specific guidance
Which it would be slightly unfair to chuckle at, but did amuse me a little. Darling presented it in the commons today, repeating the bizarre newspeakism that the police "have no information or intelligence that the data has fallen into wrong hands" - which seems tantamount to saying "apart from the crimes the police already know about, they don't know about any crimes". My breath is slightly less than baited, but I await the Spring publication of the full report, which will feature chapters with titles as mournful as "What exactly happened?" Perhaps he could ask that about Brown's post summer performance next.
