The Lobbying Group
Manniq, 11 Sep 2005 19:58:14
First of all, many thanks to those who stayed behind and expressed an interest in this group. But if you couldn't say hi on Friday, never fear: your community needs you!
I drew the short straw and, for the time being, am helping to co-ordinate this group. So if you wish to talk about lobbying, please either contact me directly or post on here. And if anyone from any other group feels their toes being trod on, please, please talk to me. It won't be intentional - just exuberance...and the more we can work together, so much the better.
What we agreed to do on Friday was, as priority, concentrate on getting responses in to the Consultation. That means rousing our own community.
That in turn means we are going to do a few things:
1. Write a short note explaining to people HOW to respond and what form their response might take (answering, even, such basic questions as whether it should be hand-written).
2. We will also tackle the issue of anonymity: not just for this, but for ANYONE wishing to communicate electronically with their government or representatives. This will again be a short advice piece telling people what they need to do.
3. We are going to put together LOADS of short paragraphs detailing typical arguments against this proposal. Not THE arguments against it, because we fully recognise that different people may buy in to different arguments. Rather, a checklist of arguments that people can draw on to support their own viewpoint.
I think that more or less covers the immediate stuff.
We will also be looking (a little later) at drawing up lists of legislators and influencers we need to lobby.
We would love to have hands up from experts who can put a learned or official name to anything we produce.
We would also welcome input from ALL of you on the three points above. We are not omniscient - and even if one of us is looking after one of the above, that doesn't mean we will cover everything.
Regards,
Manniq
P.S., cross-posted to informedconsent for purposes of widening the circle. If anyone else wishes to post further, please do so, referencing my e-mail: manniq@hotmail.com
SnowdropExplodes, 11 Sep 2005 22:02:58
--- manniq@hotmail.com wrote:
> What we agreed to do on Friday was, as priority,
> concentrate on getting responses in to the
> Consultation. That means rousing our own community.
>
> That in turn means we are going to do a few things:
>
> 1. Write a short note explaining to people HOW to
> respond and what form their response might take
> (answering, even, such basic questions as whether it
> should be hand-written).
I can input into this, a bit. I guess an important
element is to include the consultation questions, and
say that it is important to include answers in the
letters to the consultation. maybe also point out
the ways in which some of the questions are biased
towards seeking certain types of answers (e.g. "Can
possession of such material ever be justified?" is
clearly designed to get the answer "no").
Of course, any of the material that I've written on IC
concerning content of letters, or likely effectiveness
of letters, is free to be used for these purposes.
Ta,
SnowdropExplodes
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Peter Green, 11 Sep 2005 22:47:16
On 9/11/05, -OJT- wrote:
> I guess an important
> element is to include the consultation questions, and
> say that it is important to include answers in the
> letters to the consultation.
That's the exact opposite of the advice given at Friday's meeting by a
civil servant! She said there is no obligation to answer *any* of the
questions posed by the consultation. I believe she's going to be
posting some guidelines on how best to respond - Manniq, is that
correct?
--
Peter
Hessie, 11 Sep 2005 23:26:17
People asked how to best get their points across if they respond to the
consultation. Some obvious, but here goes:
Please send all comments in printed form, not handwritten (and
definitely no green ink!). An easy to read font (Times, Arial) and 12
point text is best.
Ideally email and follow up with hard copy, but either is fine (hard
copy obviously is not traceable back to you if you omit contact details,
but hard to confirm delivery if you remain anonymous).
Keep comments polite, concise, and ensure perfect spelling and grammar.
Spell check. Re-read. Get someone else to read to make sure it's as
coherent as possible.
Remember the readers probably know nothing about SM, even that it's
consensual, so explain everything.
*Don't* send graphic pictures, legal or otherwise - it'll end up in the bin
Number your paragraphs or use bullet points. Number pages if you\x{2019}re
getting that ambitious.
Refer back to points in the consultation doc, using paragraph numbers.
There is no requirement to use a real name, but using some sort of name
will make the filing easier.
State your qualifications and who you represent, and how many people
that may be.
You can ask for your whole response to be kept confidential, but it
would be more useful if the response were made public just with your
identifying details removed. Ask for this to be done. Consultation
responses are usually public (i.e. someone can go to the HO library and
read them, or phone up and ask for copies, at which point someone gets
the fun job of shoving the whole public response file through the
photocopier, followed by the file of responses where details need to be
removed, which has to be done more carefully.)
I believe that people really will try to ensure that contact details are
kept confidential on request (it's a legal req under DPA, after all),
but given that the photocopying is likely done by a bored inexperienced
person I wouldn't like to guarantee it.
You can supply an email address and not a postal address.
They will be making a table of responses and tallying up numbers of
responses making different points, so the easier it is for them to do
that, the better. The first two columns will be point made and who by.
The third is \x{201C}what do we do about this\x{201D}, so suggestions of what you want
them to do will be useful. From their angle, (HO and the Ministers), the
problem is \x{2018}how do we do something to satisfy the Daily Mail/worried
parents/Jane Longhurst\x{2019}s mother that we are doing something about this
icky stuff?\x{2019} _If we don\x{2019}t like their answer, we need to provide answers._
So yes, answering the questions will make one part of their job easier,
but just saying "No" to "Do you agree to the list of material" is not
very helpful (although better than nothing if you're persuading people
to respond) - they are going to have to organise all the other coherent
points that people are making. If you can address one or more of the
questions, great, but don't be limited by them or by their phrasing.
Peter Green wrote:
>On 9/11/05, -OJT- wrote:
>
>
>
>>I guess an important
>>element is to include the consultation questions, and
>>say that it is important to include answers in the
>>letters to the consultation.
>>
>>
>
>That's the exact opposite of the advice given at Friday's meeting by a
>civil servant! She said there is no obligation to answer *any* of the
>questions posed by the consultation. I believe she's going to be
>posting some guidelines on how best to respond - Manniq, is that
>correct?
>
>
>
--
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Peter Green, 11 Sep 2005 23:36:11
On 9/11/05, Hessie wrote:
"And as if by magic, the civil servant appeared..." !
Thanks for the prompt and detailed reply, Hessie.
--
Peter
Ian, 12 Sep 2005 16:25:00
Hessie
Thank you so much for posting this great advice from one so much more
"in the Know" about how the Home Office Civil Servants will react to
our submissions.
regards
Ian
At 23:26 11/09/2005, Hessie@lineone.net wrote:
>People asked how to best get their points across if they respond to the
>consultation. Some obvious, but here goes:
>
>Please send all comments in printed form, not handwritten (and
>definitely no green ink!). An easy to read font (Times, Arial) and 12
>point text is best.
>
>Ideally email and follow up with hard copy, but either is fine (hard
>copy obviously is not traceable back to you if you omit contact details,
>but hard to confirm delivery if you remain anonymous).
>
>Keep comments polite, concise, and ensure perfect spelling and grammar.
>Spell check. Re-read. Get someone else to read to make sure it's as
>coherent as possible.
>Remember the readers probably know nothing about SM, even that it's
>consensual, so explain everything.
>
>*Don't* send graphic pictures, legal or otherwise - it'll end up in the bin
>
>Number your paragraphs or use bullet points. Number pages if you're
>getting that ambitious.
>
>Refer back to points in the consultation doc, using paragraph numbers.
>
>There is no requirement to use a real name, but using some sort of name
>will make the filing easier.
>
>State your qualifications and who you represent, and how many people
>that may be.
>
>You can ask for your whole response to be kept confidential, but it
>would be more useful if the response were made public just with your
>identifying details removed. Ask for this to be done. Consultation
>responses are usually public (i.e. someone can go to the HO library and
>read them, or phone up and ask for copies, at which point someone gets
>the fun job of shoving the whole public response file through the
>photocopier, followed by the file of responses where details need to be
>removed, which has to be done more carefully.)
>I believe that people really will try to ensure that contact details are
>kept confidential on request (it's a legal req under DPA, after all),
>but given that the photocopying is likely done by a bored inexperienced
>person I wouldn't like to guarantee it.
>You can supply an email address and not a postal address.
>
>They will be making a table of responses and tallying up numbers of
>responses making different points, so the easier it is for them to do
>that, the better. The first two columns will be point made and who by.
>The third is "what do we do about this", so suggestions of what you want
>them to do will be useful. From their angle, (HO and the Ministers), the
>problem is 'how do we do something to satisfy the Daily Mail/worried
>parents/Jane Longhurst's mother that we are doing something about this
>icky stuff?' _If we don't like their answer, we need to provide answers._
>
>So yes, answering the questions will make one part of their job easier,
>but just saying "No" to "Do you agree to the list of material" is not
>very helpful (although better than nothing if you're persuading people
>to respond) - they are going to have to organise all the other coherent
>points that people are making. If you can address one or more of the
>questions, great, but don't be limited by them or by their phrasing.
>
>Peter Green wrote:
>
>>On 9/11/05, -OJT- wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>I guess an important
>>>element is to include the consultation questions, and
>>>say that it is important to include answers in the
>>>letters to the consultation.
>>>
>>
>>That's the exact opposite of the advice given at Friday's meeting by a
>>civil servant! She said there is no obligation to answer *any* of the
>>questions posed by the consultation. I believe she's going to be
>>posting some guidelines on how best to respond - Manniq, is that
>>correct?
>>
>>
>
Paul Tavener, 12 Sep 2005 19:06:17
Author wrote:
> I drew the short straw and, for the time being, am helping to co-ordinate this group. So if you wish to talk about lobbying, please either contact me directly or post on here. And if anyone from any other group feels their toes being trod on, please, please talk to me. It won't be intentional - just exuberance...and the more we can work together, so much the better.
> What we agreed to do on Friday was, as priority, concentrate on getting responses in to the Consultation. That means rousing our own community.
An important way of publicising the issues would be via letters in some magazines. I have already started the ball rolling with a letter to DVD World (highly relevant if you have a quick flick through the latest issue) and Watsat where we might hopefully see an article at some point. I intend to send another tonight to Bizarre magazine. If anyone else would like to send in letters please do, the more that get published the more people will see the issue raised and in these magazines at least the audience is likely to be more sympathetic, especially those who feel threatened themselves.
Anyone who would like to see a copy of the letter sent can email me at admin@ofwatch.org.uk and I will send you a copy.
I think it would also be useful to have a list of who is managing the other aspects of the campaign (if this has been decided) so that postings and emails can be more focused.