What we're up to

Democracy 2043: your chance to rewatch

Imagining a better future: that was the order of the day at our Festival of Debate event in Sheffield last month. Five mighty panelists brought their lived experience to the question of what an improved democracy could look like.

What goes on behind closed doors?

We've been chatting to journalist Lucas Amin about the stories he's uncovered using WhatDoTheyKnow — and specifically, what he's revealed about water companies and airlines lobbying against environmental restrictions.

It's all quite shocking... and without FOI, we wouldn't know about it. Read the whole story here.

No more dodgy statistics!

Another WhatDoTheyKnow user, Joanne Bartley, told us how she got the advert on the side of a bus taken down - because FOI proved that it was false. Find out more.

Access to information in Georgia

We were very pleased to find out that AskGov, the Georgian Alaveteli site, won a notable award last month. Its cofounder Teona has also written up all that she learned during a visit to the UK when she met up with mySociety and other organisations in civic tech.

Has CAPE helped you make a change?

Tell us about it!

Our Climate Action Plans site, CAPE, provides a wealth of information about how local governments are working - or aren't - to cut their carbon emissions.

We know CAPE has already proven useful for researchers, activists, campaigners, journalists and interested individuals... but what we don't know is how it's being used by YOU!

Would you take three minutes to tell us how you're using the site, and perhaps how it has helped you make a change? Tell us your story here.

Shaping a new service

How can we support communities to organise locally around a simple and achievable home energy action?

That's the question that's informing our current development project, Neighbourhood Warmth. Catch up on our progress in our latest set of monthnotes.

What we're reading

• GOV.UK are doing some direction-setting.
• What happens if a councillor gets elected in two different constituencies?
• Sweden's' FOI Act (the first in the world) has been given UNESCO World Heritage status (via Google Translate).
• Australian outlet Crikey is running a series on the sorry state of Access to Information down under.
• Meanwhile, at the Dataharvest event, some nice artwork has come from redacted documents.
• Superhero figurines are so last year - here are the real heroes.

Dates for the diary

• This coming Tuesday - learn how to measure and win council climate action, as part of the Great Big Green Week with Climate Emergency UK.
• Catch up with our new and improved offerings for Wales, at GovCamp Cymru on June 23.
• On 4-6 July, we're at the LGA conference and keen to chat to councils about highways or climate - depending on your interests!
• We'll also be at Business Green Net Zero Week - more on this nearer the date.
• Open Data Camp hits the Midlands on 1-2 July: Wolverhampton to be precise.

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