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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Word of the day: Nonsultations

A "nonsultation" is a cynical attempts by a government (or church or any other bureaucracy) to lend legitimacy or a fake public relations cover to pre-determined decisions, masquerading as consultation exercises.
 
For more, see Andrew Gilligan's write-up:
 
"All major decisions, and many minor ones – including planning applications – must now, by law, be consulted on. A vast industry has grown up to do it. The purpose of "nonsultation", however, is almost never to act on the public's views. It is to manage, manipulate, or suppress them.

"The last government's consultation on a big increase in nuclear power was a textbook exercise in generating not just electricity, but a desired verdict. The consultation materials were partisan and selective. The questions were loaded. The participants were hand-picked and shepherded. It was so blatant that it was actually struck out by the High Court."

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