Here in the UK there is much fuss about the letters that Prince Charles has written to the government expressing his views on a number of matters. These are known as the 'black spider' letters due to the appearance of his handwriting.
Whilst the content of many of them is known about, a number have been kept secret on the premise that the content may harm Charles' position when he becomes King.
This is presently being fought over with a judicial decision that they should be published being overturned by the government. Clearly they contain something significant that would be embarrassing or at least highly controversial.
Personally I believe these letters should be published in the public domain. After all it cannot be a surprise to Charles that he is first in line to the throne and therefore should have himself moderated his actions so that there would be no possibility of anything that threatened his position.
There is no problem with him holding political views and although the monarchy is supposedly independent of party politics I don't think we should deny him the right to express his views. The problem arises because what he writes is being kept secret.
Like many people the world over I express my views via social media, and directly to MPs by means of letter. The content of my letters and my social media posts however isn't secret, and often I precis my letters and the responses to them in my blogposts.
Prince Charles and indeed other members of the Royal Family should work within the same constraints and their letters be made available for scrutiny upon request.
This is yet another case where the Freedom of Information legislation is being abused. FoI is fully supported by the government of the day, regardless of their political persuasion, as long as it doesn't contain that which they wish to censor for their own reasons.
Freedom - what Freedom?
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