More people in rural areas are living in poverty, according to the Commission for Rural Communities in its ‘State of the countryside 2008’ report, which is published today. The report, the tenth in a series giving a definitive picture of rural England, also points to concerns over the decline in services and the challenge of meeting the need for affordable homes. 

The Information Commissioner believes that there has not been enough parliamentary or public debate on proposals to collect more and more personal information. Richard Thomas also argued that any government run database holding the telephone and internet communications of the whole population would be a step too far. 

The 2008 survey from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and development shows that 80 per cent of organisations do not currently use Web 2.0 online methods to attract or recruit employees with only 8 per cent planning to start using the technology in the next year.
Web 2.0 is a term describing the trend in the use of World Wide web technology and web design that aims to enhance creativity, information sharing, and, most notably, collaboration among users.