Webcam monitors political cynicism

Since the Government is so gungho on technology these days, the Margin has a suggestion that would at once prove to the world…

Since the Government is so gungho on technology these days, the Margin has a suggestion that would at once prove to the world that the State has both a squeaky clean sense of duty and a commitment to creating an informative and useful Government website. The idea? Install a live webcam in every politician's office so the Plain People can see what their representatives do all day long.

That's what one Latvian official has done. Finance minister Mr Gundars Berzins of the People's Party decided to counter accusations of party corruption by letting the world watch him stream - albeit soundlessly - across the Web.

Think how useful live webcams would have been if only we'd had them in the 1980s!