Elsewhere in this site we have tried to keep strictly to the facts, despite our own strong opinions on the subject. On this page we say what we really think.
1) The root cause of the entire problem was the excessive, pointless secrecy which infects the whole of British public life. Whenever our administrative system finds something wrong, the first thought is not to repair it, but to cover it up. This attitude has become so ingrained into our way of thinking that we don't even realise that we are doing it.
2) We have no effective system for policing abuses in British public life. The Ombudsman service is slow and ineffective. It can only handle trivial complaints, and seems afraid to tackle misbehaviour by the rich and powerful. Our legal system is an expensive charade, obsessed with procedural detail and reluctant to examine the facts. The three month time limit for judicial review is an absurdity when decisions are taken in secret. The press and politicians are hamstrung by our libel laws, and the ever present secrecy which makes it so difficult to discover the truth.
3) To succeed against the system, it is best to be either stinking rich or destitute. The ordinary man or woman in the street is at a severe disadvantage. Nevertheless, we have had some successes, and we identify below a few lessons for ordinary people which will help their cause enormously:
A) The Kirkstall residents got their act together very quickly once they identified the threat. Despite the fact that their opponents operated in secret, the community were soon "up to speed", and they have managed to keep up with the competition ever since. One reason for this is that Kirkstall and West Leeds are not the downtrodden inner-city areas that are sometimes imagined, but lively, vibrant communities, short of money, but certainly not lacking ideas. They are well able to run their own affairs. The last thing they needed was a gang of property speculators and an Urban Development Corporation operating behind closed doors. That, unfortunately, is what they got, and the remainder of this site describes how they dealt with it.
B) From the beginning the Campaign took its message to the public, and listened to what the public had to say. It abandoned fights where it had no public support, although it has sometimes been shown that the original concerns were well-founded. It made no attempt at secrecy, and used its large and active membership to swamp infiltration by its opponents.
C) It kept proper records, and had an effective system for gathering intelligence. Our accurate detailed information has amazed our opponents. Although we have occasionally received some very useful "leaks", most of our information has come from public sources. Important skills are knowing who to ask, where to look, and how to organise the data so that it is possible to make connections.
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