We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.

Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]

Just for show

How frightfully decent of those splendid chaps at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to set up an online-forum to enable the riff-raff to contribute their thoughts and ideas on the proposed EU Constitution.

Registration is a pre-requisite to participation but at least it appears to be cost-free (which is a lot more than anyone can say about participation in the EU itself).

So, is this a genuine effort to solicit and publicise pro-Independence opinion or a potemkin facade calculated to provide a veneer of legitimacy to a decision that has already been made behind doors welded shut?

Another website established by the Foreign Office may hold just a few clues.

[My thanks to Emmanuel Goldstein for both links.]

1 comment to Just for show

  • S. Weasel

    Just for show or not, they’re getting an earful.

    I signed up and have read my way through a fair chunk of it, and it seems pretty relentlessly anti-EU. There are some articulate posters there, and so far only the briefest of yea-sayers.

    It also has a fun rate-the-post feature, from 1 (the highest) to 10. I’ve been merrily bumping up the eloquent cranks. (I wish I could’ve caught the one that was pulled for profanity).

    All they require is a username and email. Might be worth watching for a while.