Public Swervants

I am writing to David Miliband this week on a few issues (it will be interesting to see the response, if any, that is generated), and again the notion of Kismet pops into my head as I am provided yet more fuel to my fire. A few weeks ago I wrote to the Central Office of Information (COI - who place all the ads telling us what to do, and engage the agencies and media to do it in) via their online site resource:

I am writing on behalf of Junkk.com, which is a website devoted to improving the public's understanding of, and engagement with environmental issues.

I'd would be grateful for the contact of someone at COI Communications to discuss how we could further mutually rewarding synergies.

Someone has now kindly replied, but I'm not sure if he quite realised (or realised all too well), how it would go down:

Your email was forwarded to our digital Media team and their response was if they have a requirement in the further they will be in touch but for now they don't think it's something they would use.

You might want to consider approaching either the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (http://www.defra.gov.uk/) or the Sustainable development Commission (http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/).

He was polite and most helpful and responsive. So I hope my reply was fair in the circumstances:

Thank you for taking the time to reply and the advice given.

I am glad that your colleagues in digital media will be in touch if required, but it's disappointing, not to mention a tad hard to see how a free resource promoting environmental issues is 'not something they would use'. In all my time in agencies, such a gift horse would have been both welcome and enthusiastically embraced on behalf of my clients, in this case taxpayers. I do hope they do not mean to infer it is fruitful to deal with those who would charge like wounded bulls. For my part there was a lot I am sure they could have helped me with in terms of information, press releases, etc.

I am aware of the other two opportunities and they, I presume, in us, having been in touch before. But will persevere.

This is a country in crisis. And a government in disarray, run by self-interested empires with public service and actually doing anything very low on their daily career path targets. Something must change. Or be made to.