Pro-HDTV E-Petition - PM passes buck, says 'tell Ofcom yourself'

[Bob Crabtree]

The UK Prime Minister's office emailed us last night (no problemo, Tony mate, we guess you were a bit tied up yourself, so we'll give you a bell at the weekend!), saying there is now a response online to a recent E-Petition we signed.

This was a demand that, after the analogue switchover, Ofcom should allocate the unused radio spectrum to HDTV services.

The PM's response says that this decision is a matter for Ofcom itself and advises petitioners to respond directly to the regulator's current consultation about the switchover.

More.

[GrahamGarside]

These online petitions aren't so that they can see what the public wants and then do it. It's so that they can make sure they really are ignoring what we want done by having the statistics to back it up

[Lee H]

These E-Petitions are just like Mr Blair himself, a waste of time and energy.

They never listen to the public and the petition regarding road charging is a prime example.

If you want them to take notice, use your vote for someone else instead of filling in these

[Funkstar]

The only upside of the online petitions that i can think of is that it gets people talking and being more politically aware.

We can only hope this will rub off and get more poeple to the polls when the time comes.

[DeSean]

I expected the blizzard of anti-government anti-Blair sentiment on here.

Even if you don't like Blair, the petitions get (some) people thinking about political issues, get them more involved, and will hopefully lead to other forms of activism. Frankly, did you expect government policy to be made based on a couple of thousand online votes?

Now, to be a bit controversial, listening to the public is important, but the public is generally driven by short term interests and most of us aren't experts on issues that the government has to deal with (some people here may be experts on IT systems, and know what kind of system the NHS should get, but few of us will be experts on dealing with young offenders or reducing death rates from certain diseases.)

My point is that lots of us have opinions on things, but just because we do, it doesn't mean that the government should always act on them.

PS. I don't like the national road pricing idea, I like the sound of the HD idea, I have mixed feelings towards Blair, and I think "Dave" Cameron and Blair are almost interchangeable.