Friday in Westminster

Today in Parliament & Yesterday in Parliament
By David Wilby
Programme Editor

Radio 4 guides you around Westminster

Can we trust our banks - and can we trust bodies that hold personal details about us to keep them secure?

Both questions relevant to current events in the light of the banking crisis and the latest loss of personal details, this time of 100,000 members of the armed forces.

Both these subjects came up when the House of Lords debated a report from one of its committees into computer and internet security.

The Science and Technology committee reported last year, but now they complain the government has given them the brush-off.

Among the peers' recommendations was to establish the principle that banks are responsible in law for losses when card data is stolen.

At the moment they are allowed to police themselves.

Peers also proposed that the government appoints experts to consider all aspects of data handling and electronic crime.

The debate also featured a warning about social networking sites like Facebook, which allow young people's details to be easily accessed.

One IT entrepreneur called Facebook a "security nightmare" and suggested children should have to take the computer equivalent of a driving test to make them aware of the dangers they face online.

Also on the programme

• Mark D'Arcy looks at the political effects of the global financial crisis.

The economic storms may have produced bleak economic prospects for many, but for Gordon Brown and his beleaguered Labour MPs, it's restored their hopes that they can save their jobs.

Wednesday's prime minister's questions, which saw the Labour side getting behind their leader, may have marked a change in the political weather.

• Looking ahead, what's described as a legislative juggernaut is coming over the horizon.

The government is tidying up years of immigration law in one mammoth bill.

We will hear from one of the MPs, a specialist in human rights, who will be scrutinising it.

• And did an internet diary delete a minister's career? The sacked Transport Minister Tom Harris writes an entertaining and candid "blog" about his thoughts on the political scene.

But were they too candid for his own good?

Tom Harris reveals how he was quietly hoping for promotion in last week's reshuffle, when instead he got his ministerial P45.

Tune in to Today in Parliament on BBC Radio 4 tonight at 2330 GMT and Yesterday in Parliament tomorrow morning at 0831 GMT on Radio 4 Long Wave and digital radio.

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