Friday, February 13, 2009

It's long, but worth it...

No, missus, oo-er, trust me.

You know how 'they' are 'listening' to 'us'.

I followed, and even ended up sharing in an exchange from some guys who do seem to know stuff...

Stakeholder Engagement: The Big Energy Shift

Government intend these to be active and open consultation processes,
and are keen to hear from the households, businesses and communities who
will be affected by the proposals. Government also needs to hear from
local government, community groups, NGOs and the supply chain and
installation companies that will support delivery on the ground.

Government is launching the 'Big Energy Shift' - a series of 40+
road-show events in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland,
involving citizens, businesses, local authorities, community and fuel
poverty groups and the supply chain. Participants will discuss options
for heat and energy savings in homes and communities. These events
will provide the opportunity to discuss the consultations before
formally responding.

Events include:

* Stakeholder workshops on the detail of CESP on the 24 March, and
CERT on the 25 March, hosted by the Energy Efficiency Partnership for
Homes. These events are by invitation only, and these will be issued in
late February;

* Stakeholder workshops in Scotland and Wales on the
consultations, working with the Welsh and Scottish Governments. Further
details will follow, but you can also register your interest by
emailing: cesp.consultation@decc.gsi.gov.uk;
* English Regional "Road-show" events on the consultations, with a
particular focus on CESP. Further details will follow. Spaces will be
limited, however you can register your interest by emailing:
cesp.consultation@decc.gsi.gov.uk;
* A HES workshop on community and renewable heat in local
communities with local authorities - details are to be made available
shortly. For further information contact
hes.consultation@decc.gsi.gov.uk;
* Citizens forums for households and communities - an innovative
programme with 9 separate citizens' forums - involving 250 people - in
neighbourhoods in England, Wales and N Ireland. These will include
peer-to-peer interviews in the community, site visits to see different
technologies in practice, and home visits as well as interactive web
forum. The events will take place throughout February and March;
* Small and medium enterprises - events run in conjunction with
Business in the Community and the Small Business Consortium, to discuss
policy and delivery options;
* Public sector - an event run with the Sustainable Development
Commission to bring together public sector procurers, facility managers
etc, to explore their role in delivering changes in relation to heat,
energy saving, and renewable energy.

The latter three events are invitation only. The findings will be
published by DECC.

> The first sentence in this press release is totally negated by the actual
> details of the "consultation" events, which are all, apparently, labelled
> as "by invitation" or "limited places" - must be some meaning of the word
> "open" that I haven't heard before. This carries on from a fine tradition
> of the government that brought us "Do you want a dozen nuclear power
> stations or only twelve?" and "Sipson village is being dangerously polluted
> by aircraft from Heathrow Airport, don't you think we ought to move it?"
>
> I suppose it's not possible to boycott all such government charades
> totally? Is this what they want? How could we ensure that no one broke the
> picket line?

It gets even better; the HES workshop email address doesn't work.I've tried to ask for further information, from two different email addresses and they both were rejected. The message:

Action: failed
Status: 5.1.1

seems to refer back to an old Elvis number,

"Return to sender, address unknown.

No such number, no such zone."

Rather than a picket line, we need a powerful can opener.

Genius!

Getting with the 'game', I'll leave it open as to which bits - the semantic jiggery-pokery, the Hitch-hikers Guidian 'directions'... or the incisive mockery - I am referring in that statement.

I have a feeling, as with some West End Theatres, I how the authorities' PR machine would plaster that statement on any post(er).

It was about another issue, but I am minded to share a comment by a chap in the Newsnight blog today that I thought would make a great URL: 'itwasntme.gov'

It also goes a long way to why I consider almost an 'research' that leads to a 'poll' that most, and especially HMG and the BBC, carry out to be pretty suspect.

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