On 19 March 2012 13:28, Stephen Booth <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 19 March 2012 12:49, Norman Gray <[email protected]> wrote: > > > The BBC's motto is something along the lines of "to educate, inform, and > entertain". It doesn't usually do the latter bespoke. > > > > I was going for the 'inform' part, maybe some 'educate' as well. If > you read my note to them on 6th May, following their response, you > will see I described their response as 'interesting and useful', not > 'entertaining and fun'. You will note from their response that > fulfilling this request allowed them to discover that one of their > offices was breaking the law and rectify the situation before TV > Licensing (which is run by a private company profiting from the public > purse) and drag them to court. > > The FoI is there to allow us to query the bodies that spend our money > and act on our behalf. Just because you don't see or disagree with > the rationale behind a request does not invalidate that request or > make it a waste of time and money. No, but it does make it reasonable for him to ask what that rationale is. I don't think he said it was necessarily a waste, just that he wanted to know why it was submitted. > I note from the link in your sig > that you are a researcher in astronomy, presumably you are in receipt > of research grants and other bursaries some, if not all, of which are > from the public purse. I'm sure there are many people who would > question why we are spending our taxes on that when it could be spent > on developing new therapies to prevent or delay the degenerative > conditions that are robbing many people of an active old age and > filling our hospital beds and nursing homes. Just because they cannot > see or disagree with the rationale for your work doesn't invalidate > that work or make it a waste of time and money. > Quite right - anyone is of course allowed, and I would encourage them, to question the value of Norman's astronomy research - and I'm sure in response he would be able to make an argument for what that value is. I think it's equally reasonable for him to ask why this request was submitted. It sounds like you think he shouldn't ask. I'm not saying he has a statutory right to get an answer from you, but as a matter of advocacy for FOI rights, or even a simple matter of our mutual collaboration to build a good society, I think it might be useful for you to be able to make the case for the request you submitted. If your rationale is "to find out if the BBC is being hypocritical" then that's fair enough; or even if your answer is "sorry, but I don't want to discuss my reasons" then I imagine we'd all accept that too; but it sounds like you resent him even asking you the question. Leigh. -- Leigh Caldwell (t) +44 20 7064 6556 (m) +44 7747 062906 Chief executive, Inon Pricing Advisors http://www.inon.com/ Blogs: http://www.knowingandmaking.com/ http://www.pricingrevolution.com/
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