Civil disobedience

I had not realised that my blog had global appeal until I looked at the web stats and saw I was getting hits from all over the globe – from Chile to Uzbekistan to Nigeria to Philippines. Obviously the largest numbers of hits originate from the UK but there does seem to be a growing number from the US with India not far behind. This blog entry is dedicated to my many Indian fans especially as we all know my Uncle Eric is a big big fan of your wonderful food.

As we all know Uncle Eric is a fan of curry and it came as no surprise the distance he would travel to have a good one (as long as he was not walking or riding a bike in his rubber knickers). In April, Uncle Eric took a  4-day jolly with colleagues to India, at tax payers’ expense.  The purpose?  - “Ongoing focus on building community relations and trade and business links” - not sure how this helps struggling local authorities or Uncle Eric’s diet but I hope they had fun.

Here is my latest request (It would be nice if someone else wants to ask these questions as I suspect I am still declared as vexatious.)

Nameste Chums

Uncle Eric took a 4 day jolly to India in April. He no doubt arrived like new Viceroy from the bygone era of the British Raj – ready to tell the natives how to run things but spending most of the time looking pasty , sweating and generally causing offence.

From a distance one could have been forgiven to seeing a close resemblance to a previous great Indian thinker and politician. The bald head; the wire-framed glasses; the gentle manner; the quiet voice. Alas any comparison with Mahatma Gandhi disappears on closer inspection – it is as if Gandhi had forgone the diet, non violent tolerance and socialist views. Indeed when Gandhi was to reply to the question of what he thought about  Western Civilisation with the remark he “thought it was a good idea” - could well be directed at the state of local government after Uncle Eric has massacred it. I suspect that also Uncle Eric is unlikely to turn the other cheek – even though he possesses two of size of a bungalow.

Previous Freedom of Information request have stated that the trip occurred zero expenditure. I know Indian is cheap but cannot believe that the proud Uncle Eric slept on the streets of Old Delhi holding out a begging bowl. Hence someone most have paid for this trip. Can you therefore supply the following information?

1)     A complete agenda of the trip to India. Include time of meetings, meals, excursions and places of stay. Please include which Indian organisation or body also attended and paid for trip. As India has its own FOI act I wish to follow up details of the trip with Indian authorities.

2)     What plans does the Secretary of State have to host a similar trip for visitors from the Indian Government

Yours in civil disobedience

Derek