ONE thing stood out for me, during the complex controversy over the disposal of the Brent Spar oil platform.

When Greenpeace (an organisation of which I am not a member) realised that it had made a mistake, it went public straight away. Pressure groups do not have the extensive (and very expensive) research resources that are at the disposal of Government ministers.

Governments also have vast resources of information that are not available to the general public, or to specialist campaigning groups. Unfortunately, the UK has a tradition of excessive Government caution about public access to official information: it used to be said that even the colour of a minister's office caret was covered by the Official Secrets Act.

In recent years, there has been a slight relaxation in this officially authorised paranoia, with arguably more progress made by the Major government than by recent Labour administrations.

Nevertheless, British citizens remain deprived of the information they need, if they are to exercise their votes responsibly, at both national and local level. The Government's promised freedom of information changes are ineffective, and tardy in the extreme. I would be delighted to hear, from Mr Newman-Thompson, or indeed any other member of the local Labour Party, exactly what pressure they have put, are putting, or intend to put on the Westminster control freaks, to preserve what little remains of our democratic traditions.

Very Old Labour