REVIEW: Android 4.2

Having found the long-awaited 4.2 Android update pushed to my Galaxy Nexus earlier this week, now is a good time to take a quick early look at the new system for the benefit of those considering the pros and cons of installing it on their own devices.

"Balkanising the Internet"

The views of Google, the internet search giant, and the British Government look to become increasingly opposed in oncoming weeks as David Cameron, the Prime Minister, is expected to formally announce the proposals for his long-awaited internet pornography filter. Shortly after Google's appearance before the Public Accounts Committee confirmed that the company had been using different national jurisdictions to ensure a much lighter rate of tax, its chairman and former CEO, Eric Schmidt, spoke out to warn of the possibility of a "balkanised" internet should censorship be allowed to proliferate. Delivering a speech at the RAND Corporation's Politics Aside event, Schmidt took Iran as an example of the dangers of such a move, claiming that it had limited the country to a "stone age" level of technology. Government policy makers would be wise to heed this advice, as early reports have suggested that the filter will automatically block all unapproved content from public access.

The Localism Agenda

In a continuing climate of widespread public disenchantment with the political status quo, the issue of localism has gained vital traction recently, encouraged by evidence that the British public is becoming increasingly interested in local issues at the expense of national politics. This is hardly a surprise, since in a period of hefty economic belt-tightening it is to be expected that people's interests might shift closer to home, pursuing interests more closely related to their personal well-being. This should represent an excellent opportunity for the Conservative government to pursue their localism agenda in an effort to further reduce what they refer to as "top-down" decision making, thereby in theory making politics once again relevant to the average person.