The information watchdog without any teeth (UK)

The information watchdog without any teeth

This Government claims it is committed to openness. My gruelling battle to find out who lied about me shows otherwise

Martin Sixsmith
From The Times
July 14, 2009

I smile when I hear this Government insisting that it is committed to openness about its own behaviour (MPs' expenses, Iraq inquiry passim).

This is partly because I was a member of the senior Civil Service when the Freedom of Information Act was formulated in 1999 and I remember all the whispered discussions about how to circumvent it (never write anything down, don't keep minutes of sensitive meetings), and partly because I have just emerged from a gruelling battle to make use of Britain's information laws and have found the odds stacked firmly against me.

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