Eco Soundings

John Vidal
Wednesday November 20, 2002
The Guardian

'Off message'

The great British GM debate got off to a messy start last week, with a
secret focus group meeting in Manchester designed to come up with the kind
of questions that need to be asked. But does the government actually want
any questions? Marcus Williamson, the editor of GM Food News has been
emailing the hapless central office of information, which is supposedly
handling the debate, to find out who certain people are and what the desired
outcome of the debate might be. He was surprised when he got back a tetchy
email clearly not meant to have been sent to him, but about him. "This man
is a pain. He seems to communicate only by email," it reads. "I have three
times sent him answers to his tedious questions... Maybe he has no
telephone. Tell him he has to deal with me if you get him again." Not a good
start for the people trying to communicate the government's message.

http://society.guardian.co.uk/societyguardian/story/0,7843,843232,00.html