We don't want any public pressure
The Times has picked up this morning on one of my earlier posts, the Ministry of Defence refusal below as a "curious argument".
So here is another in the continuing series. This is one reason that was given to Ollie Stone-Lee, a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ online politics journalist, by the Department for Education and Skills for not disclosing briefings prepared prior to the last general election for possible incoming ministers if the Conservatives had won:
"We are concerned about the possible disruptive effect which disclosing this material might have if the briefings were disclosed which reveal the priorities of the government over the coming months, which could prompt further responses by, for example, pressure groups intent on disputing the basis or the content of that advice. This could have the effect of preventing the decisions from ever being made because of, for example, public pressure."
Which does rather give the impression that civil servants think that public pressure on government is something to be avoided.
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It is interesting to compare the excuses of the mandarins with the excuses used a hundred years ago in academic politics which were satirised by Cornford in Microcosmographia Academia (see ).