an aside but I hope not OT, if we wonder about the attitudes of Michael Mann, Phil Jones, and all of "The Team" in hiding data, misleading the public, refusing to cooperate properly and legally with "FOI" requests etc. the following comment from a Phil Jones email is extremely revealing (he thinks FOI only matters between govt depts and not at all for citizens!!):
[this is specific to Phil Jones and CRU contemptuously subverting the UK's FOI process, but the attitude is pervasive among these people, that they will ignore legal FOI requirements as much as possible and show only contempt for ethical and legal norms]
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Phil Jones Shows His Contempt for Compliance with FOI in the UK
1207.txt
[About trying to circumvent FOI requests, even for the ICO]
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cc: Tom Wigley
date: Fri Apr 3 09:39:50 2009
from: Phil Jones
subject: Re: Final version of agenda?
to: REDACTED
[BRIEF EXCERPT BELOW]:
.... The whole FOI was set up by government principally for government depts. The ICO generally finds for the complainant, but there are numerous cases where the government dept ignores the decision. The new department of Justice is the principal dept to ignore FOI decisions!
My general point is that whether in the UK or USA, whether about our NRC panel or anything else, we’ll never get one bit of honest info out of these scumbags except by the most vigorous and continual applications of every political, legal, and institutional pressure that can be brought to bear.
They have no qualms at all about subverting FOI processes, inquiries and review panels, and all forms of oversight and accountability.
They are the Lord Masters on a holy crusade, and the rest of us are supposed to salute-obey-submit.
just in case it wasn't clear, this is a quote from Phil Jones' own email, displaying his contempt (shared widely by the people on his 'team') for the idea that FOI requests from citizens should be respected or fully answered:
".... The whole FOI was set up by government principally for government depts. The ICO generally finds for the complainant, but there are numerous cases where the government dept ignores the decision. The new department of Justice is the principal dept to ignore FOI decisions!"