We are the mysterons, we know that you can hear us

I was listening to BBC Radio 5 Live the other day, shortly after the Home Secretary announced that payments made to victims of state imprisonment were to be reduced. There was a brief attempt at analysis of the new policy where the presenter asked why the reporter thought Clarke was introducing his new policy. The reply was, basically, no idea, perhaps there's some political gain in it or some such. I was not convinced, the presenter was not convinced and the reporter was not convinced but that was basically all that was on offer.

Cut to the blogosphere. Within a short period of reflection and keyboard clattering the general consensus, as highlighted in this excellent article in The Times by Tim Worstall and also on this blog, was that this new measure is an attempt at pre-empting future claims by those that fall foul of badly thought out government legislation helped by the lack of the checks and balances that good law making requires and that this government seems unable or unwilling to sponsor.

And that, I think, is one of the best features of the blogosphere. Not many of us may actually be front line reporters or news generators but on analysis there's no doubt that the blogosphere serves its purpose, often very well indeed.

The days of being able to pull the hoodie over the eyes of the critical public are numbered and the traditional tactics used by the various nasty pieces of work that eventually infest all governments are becoming less and less effective.

Next week, Clarke announces Internet word tax and blogging certification based on ID card membership and submission of all material for inclusion in public protection state databases.