We Have A Freedom Of Information Act...
Sort of...
It's said not to be as good as the one that has existed in the United States of America but at least we have one...
I understand that a selection of documents are released every 40 years without this act and looking back in hindsight some information looks quaint, strange and funny. But it casts a light on how our society was at the time, what the public's opinions and views were at the time or how and the Government or media of the time perhaps by what they said and what we accessed in our newspapers "Our" opinions and views were coloured by biased information we were being fed.
And that probably still goes on today. Perhaps with all the spin that exists, it's worse now than it's ever been.
And you do wonder what will come to light of "Our" times and events that we have lived through. But we'll never know as when the documents are released we'll not be around to see for ourselves.
We have a National Archive that puts up newly released documents each month to access but from what I can see you have to pay a fee to access the information and you cannot access the information for free.
So the following was printed in The Daily Mail earlier today and no doubt this report has been chosen for the quirky points it contains and they've looked for the strangest document released.
It's at a time when relationship with Russia at the time could pose a threat to the West and what may happen if there was a Nuclear assault.
The article goes onto say...
"Civil servants believed stockpiling tea could be the key to recovery. The tea position would be very serious," notes one civil servant in the report. "With a loss of 75 per cent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with a system of rationing, it would be wrong to consider that even 1oz per head per week (enough for about 12 cups) could be ensured.
Their shopping list includes 40,000 tons of condensed milk, 200,000 tons of oils and fats, 700,000 tons of raw sugar, and 800,000 tons of wheat and flour.
Another crucial ingredient for the UK's survival would be corned beef."
Officials estimated that Five Million people could die but in the planned attack(not sure where they had received this information)and whether it was based on information gleaned from the intelligence community or was just them thinking "What If"
But it appears the overall worry was how the British could survive without their cup of tea.
Of course, I would ask even if you managed to stockpile all the above...would you have access to and how safe would your water supply be?
Good to see that we have our priorities in order...
National Archive Report
It's said not to be as good as the one that has existed in the United States of America but at least we have one...
I understand that a selection of documents are released every 40 years without this act and looking back in hindsight some information looks quaint, strange and funny. But it casts a light on how our society was at the time, what the public's opinions and views were at the time or how and the Government or media of the time perhaps by what they said and what we accessed in our newspapers "Our" opinions and views were coloured by biased information we were being fed.
And that probably still goes on today. Perhaps with all the spin that exists, it's worse now than it's ever been.
And you do wonder what will come to light of "Our" times and events that we have lived through. But we'll never know as when the documents are released we'll not be around to see for ourselves.
We have a National Archive that puts up newly released documents each month to access but from what I can see you have to pay a fee to access the information and you cannot access the information for free.
So the following was printed in The Daily Mail earlier today and no doubt this report has been chosen for the quirky points it contains and they've looked for the strangest document released.
It's at a time when relationship with Russia at the time could pose a threat to the West and what may happen if there was a Nuclear assault.
The article goes onto say...
"Civil servants believed stockpiling tea could be the key to recovery. The tea position would be very serious," notes one civil servant in the report. "With a loss of 75 per cent of stocks and substantial delays in imports and with a system of rationing, it would be wrong to consider that even 1oz per head per week (enough for about 12 cups) could be ensured.
Their shopping list includes 40,000 tons of condensed milk, 200,000 tons of oils and fats, 700,000 tons of raw sugar, and 800,000 tons of wheat and flour.
Another crucial ingredient for the UK's survival would be corned beef."
Officials estimated that Five Million people could die but in the planned attack(not sure where they had received this information)and whether it was based on information gleaned from the intelligence community or was just them thinking "What If"
But it appears the overall worry was how the British could survive without their cup of tea.
Of course, I would ask even if you managed to stockpile all the above...would you have access to and how safe would your water supply be?
Good to see that we have our priorities in order...
National Archive Report
posted by The Great Gildersleeve | 4:26 pm
1 Comments:
Very interesting that you should write about this Gildy as I was going to post something along similar lines regarding the availability of the 'definitive map' of Dorset rights of way. I think I'll save it for later.
As a family historian I am frequently frustrated by the rules regarding public access. For example I know from checking the electoral rolls from 1935 which people were eligible to vote who were living at my great Grandparents house in Bethnal Green - I was able to access this information in 1987. If however I want to find out what jobs those people were doing in the 1911 census, I will have to wait until the 2012 - 25 years after I was allowed to see the electoral rolls.
How daft is that?
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