As you will probably have guessed by now, the café likes to be active as far as it reasonably can be, when it comes to matters it feels strongly about. Recently, I wrote a letter to David Cameron, suggesting that patents must be developed within a certain time, or become public property freely available to all. Here is the reply I received back…
“Thank you for your letter to David Cameron. He has asked me to thank you and to reply on his behalf.
David Cameron thanks you for what you have to say in relation to fuel efficiency patents and your proposal of specifying the length of time of issuing patents. He appreciates what you have to say and takes on board the various points you have put across to him in your letter.
It is true that we do receive a vast amount of mail but Mr Cameron is always pleased to hear what people have to say.
Many thanks once again for taking the trouble to write and for making us aware of your ideas.
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Stocker”
I have mixed feels about this letter. On the plus side I appreciate that I got a reply at all, I am grateful I live in a country where that is possible. On the other hand, I sense a lack of commitment to any kind of follow up or suggestion that the idea might go any further than this. For this reason, I am disappointed, but I may write back and ask exactly what happens to ideas that are sent to David Cameron and what are the processes by which they might become policy.
I think that the system is more to blame than the people involved. A government that is so remote (because of the distance between voters and representatives) would require monumental determination to implement the many good ideas that are sent in, even if deep down some might rather like the ideas.
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