http://hitchensblog....onsunday.co.uk/
David Cameron is famously said to have pretended he was the cleaner to dodge awkward phone calls and unwelcome questions in the days when he was public relations chief at Carlton TV.
This sort of thing may have been acceptable in the hurly-burly of broadcasting PR, but is it excusable in Downing Street?
I ask because it is now seven months since I asked the Prime Minister’s office a very simple, small question. At first, they flatly refused to answer it.
Then – by this time the matter had been switched to the Cabinet Office – they gave me a useless non-answer. Then, when I pursued them under the Freedom of Information Act, they failed to meet the legal deadline. This week a Cabinet Office spokesman gave me an excuse for the delay which turned out within hours to be flatly, demonstrably untrue. I am now told that last Monday, 237 days after my first query, an official finally took actual measurable steps to answer it.
I thought, when I first asked, that this was a small matter. Now, given the Government’s extraordinary reluctance to reply, I am not so sure. I will let you know what happens and what this mysteriously awkward question is, as soon as I have the answer. I would have expected this sort of thing from the Azerbaijani Interior Ministry, but not from Downing Street. Maybe Downing Street, too, has joined the Third World. Or is it the cleaner’s fault?
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UK Government refuse to answer a question, why? ..Has Dowing Street joined the Third World?
Started by
Guthlac
, Jan 30 2012 12:34 AM
2 replies to this topic
#1
Guthlac
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Posted 30 January 2012 - 12:34 AM
Sir Winston Churchill
"Never Give In"
"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
"If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it the third time — a tremendous whack."
"Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
The Ethnic English, The only English, The True English
#2
Steed
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Eye of Woden
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Posted 30 January 2012 - 09:30 AM
What was the original question - anyone know?
EDIT: Was it "Has Downing Street joined the Third World?"... or was that a comment on them not having answered a different question.
EDIT: Was it "Has Downing Street joined the Third World?"... or was that a comment on them not having answered a different question.
#3
Guthlac
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Posted 30 January 2012 - 03:45 PM
Steed, on 30 January 2012 - 09:30 AM, said:
What was the original question - anyone know?
EDIT: Was it "Has Downing Street joined the Third World?"... or was that a comment on them not having answered a different question.
EDIT: Was it "Has Downing Street joined the Third World?"... or was that a comment on them not having answered a different question.
I dont know the original question but the reporter says it is when he gets the the answer to it form the government.
Sir Winston Churchill
"Never Give In"
"This is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
"If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it the third time — a tremendous whack."
"Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry."
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
The Ethnic English, The only English, The True English
