BBC Blog Network

User Profile

RoverGringo

Listed below are comments made by RoverGringo between Thursday, 11th December 2008 and Friday, 4th December 2009.

«Newer
Older»

Chris Graham interviewed on his plans as Commissioner 5:48pm on 04 Dec 2009 Hello, just thought I would comment, as it was me (Fred Ormerod) that made the FOI request for the IC's emails with the BBC. Thought I would explain the reasoning for the request.

Firstly, I thought it might give Mr Graham a bit of a 'wake up call' - he's now there to make sure public officials are open, so I thought it might make him realise he's one of those public officials too. Glad to see from reading the interview that this seems to have been achieved.

Secondly, I must admit to being a bit concerned that a BBC old boy is now the ruling body on the openness of public authorities, the BBC included. The BBC are probably one of the 'biggest' FOI public authorities in terms of the public's interest. Probably the biggest outside of central government.

From the response I got, I was at first rather disappointed at the naiivety of Mr Graham in initially accepting the invite - surely he should have realised it wouldn't look too good accepting 'gifts' from the BBC, one of the most complained-about authorities when it comes to FOI? However, it was slightly reassuring to see that he came to his senses (or was advised to do so) and turned down the offer. But I am an FOI officer for a fairly large public authority, and how would it look if we started offering Mr Graham gifts and invites? Not good at all.

Furthermore, the responses I got (I made the same request to both the ICO and the BBC to see what differing responses I got!) indicate that there were a few emails between Mr Graham and the BBC that were of a purely personal nature. Am I alone in feeling a little uncomfortable that the regulator of FOI is nice and pally with various folks at the BBC, who may, if the need arises, ask for a bit of a favour from their old buddy?

Also, given the backlog of work at the ICO and the fact that there is cleary a lot of work that needs doing there, why is he sat in his office sending personal emails to his old chums?
High Court rulings on the BBC and FOI 8:05pm on 02 Oct 2009 As I commented on this very blog in Oct 2007 to do with this ongoing case:

"By the way, as the BBC have stated that the content of the report really isn't that bad, and they are just fighting disclosure to 'clarify a technical issue', once all the legal arguments are finished (one way or another), and the 'technical issue' is 'clarified', will the BBC choose to make the report public anyway?"

So, some BBC bigwig, 2 years ago, said they were only fighting this to clarify a technical legal issue, and that the content of the report really wasn't that bad.

So, I reiterate: now that the technical issue has been ultimately clarified, will the BBC voluntarily choose to disclose the report?

I doubt it...
No cricket? Time to sharpen up on poker 6:52pm on 02 Aug 2009 Sorry to not be able to add to the debate about Spanish. However, from a Poker point of view, can I just clarify the following quote:

"But not everybody sits around a table dreaming of a royal straight flush"

In poker terms, it's just a Royal Flush - the word 'Royal' already implies it's a straight, as it would be 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit.
Give me your answer, fill in a form 2:53pm on 26 May 2009 Groan at all those puns!! Good work!
The state of FOI 10:21am on 26 May 2009 Re. point 6, and the introduction of up-front fees in Ireland. It is interesting to note (not really shown on the presentation to which you linked), that despite the introduction of up-front fees, approx 80% of FOI requests made in Ireland are made by members of the public, with only 8% made by journalists. I work in FOI for a large public authority, and can say that for us, members of the public account for only 38%, with journalists responsible for at least 23% (this is likely to be higher, as we know that some journalists submit requests from 'personal' email addresses - why, we don't know; perhaps they think we'll withhold more if we know they're journalists (wrong)).

I find my own comparison - our experience (free) vs Ireland (at cost) -interesting, insofar as it certainly looks like journalists use FOI less when they have to pay for it; that would make sense from my own experience, given the number of trivial requests we receive from journalists during 'quiet news weeks', when they're having a little fish for a story which they probably know doesn't exist. Even those ridiculous requests that get rejected by us still need to be logged, acknowledged, considered, etc. etc. It all takes time and money, yet those same journalists are all too keen to highlight how public money is being wasted. Oh the irony...
Nuns, dustmen, horse trainers and FOI 11:23am on 24 Apr 2009 Amen to that!
Nuns, dustmen, horse trainers and FOI 09:20am on 21 Apr 2009 How does the MoD know that applicants are such people???
Big Sam is back 10:24pm on 17 Dec 2008 Not too excited about the appointment, but he's better than some of the options being touted. And, ultimately, Ince had to go. I'm not a 'Manager Out!' type fan (few Rovers fans really are), but it was clear that Ince wasn't working, and I respect Williams for being courageous enough to admit his mistake and cut the cord before more damage is done. Whilst I'm not a huge Allardyce fan, some of the negativity in this thread is very unfair and blinkered (do some of you fans actually make up your own opinions, or do you just base your opinion on what the press tell you you should think?)

That aside:

36. At 9:10pm on 17 Dec 2008, Kentspur wrote:

"Getting an experienced manager in this quickly was the one good thing the Blackburn board did. The appointment of Paul Ince - risky - followed by a failure to back him - criminal - shows the familiar lack of competence of Premier League senior executives."

Sorry to 'get all defensive', but if you actually know anything about English football, you will be aware that the Rovers board are one of the most respected in the game.

"With Bentley gone and Santa Cruz about to go, there is little genuine quality at Blackburn."

And there you're just trying to justify your club spending approx. £15M on a HUGELY overrated player. Bentley is not as good as he (or anyone else) thinks he is. As you'll realise after you watch him in a Spurs shirt for a few more games, and the hopeful novelty wears off.

"Blackburn seem destined to sink back to the lower leagues of the pre-Jack Walker era."

Based on what? An 11 game winless run? It wasn't so long ago that Spurs "seemed destined to go down". Anyway, Rovers 'sank back to the lower leagues' after the Jack Walker era, and bounced back.

Put it this way, over the last 15 years, would I rather have been a Rovers fan or a Spurs fan? Let me think... the Premier League title, the Champions League campaigns, the 2-1 Carling Cup win over a laughably-arrogant-yet-poor Spurs side, the 4-1 victory at White Hart Lane 4 or 5 years ago, with Spurs fans throwing their season tickets onto the pitch in disgust...

Rather than pass comment on 'poor old Blackburn' in a 'wise man of football' way, I'd stick to worrying about your own clubs perennial underachievement.
WhatDoTheyPost 11:04pm on 11 Dec 2008 http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/user/fred_robinson_2

Rather entertaining reading this chap's requests. Entertaining in a kind of slightly excruciating way.
Police pay millions to mobile companies 1:19pm on 11 Dec 2008 "this is spying on the person"

Indeed, which is what RIPA is all about: investigatory powers, and specifically the regulation of those powers.

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

RoverGringo