Things That Would Have Stayed Secret

[Lonan3]

As we contemplate the proposed 'freedom of information act' for the IoM, THIS 'TIMES' ARTICLE of 59 facts that have been revealed by the UK's Freedom of Information Act give an idea of how important it is.

 

My personal list of the 'top 10' will probably be different to yours - but its important to remember when reading them, that NONE of them would have come to light without such an act.

 

Thousands of women are getting breast enlargements, tummy-tucks and nose jobs on the NHS

Politicians are spending £2.2bn a year of taxpayers’ money on private management consultants

Tony Blair spent nearly £2,000 of taxpayers' money on cosmetics over six years

Seventy-four police officers serving with the Metropolitan Police have criminal records

A clandestine British torture programme existed in post-war Germany, “reminiscent of the concentration camps”

Six British military policemen died at the hands of an Iraqi mob in Majar al-Kabir because nearby reinforcements decided it was too dangerous to rescue them

DNA tests showed that, since 1998, 3,034 men had been wrongly named by mothers as fathers of children for whom they had claimed maintenance. The taxpayer had to repay these sums

Illegal immigrants are getting into Britain by enrolling on university courses, obtaining visas and then failing to turn up to study

A cache of more than 300 weapons, including air pistols, swords and an improvised flame-thrower, were seized from schoolchildren in one year

Senior civil servants in the Home Office were paid more than £2m in bonuses despite the scandals that have engulfed the department