Dear Paul, Chris, Steve, Neil and John

I reply to your letter dated 25th February which I received the day before yesterday. 

You appear to have mistaken the legitimate criticism of the current Gazette leadership with criticism of the Gazette organisation as a whole.  I appreciate that this distinction may not always be clear on the web site and as a result I am now going through each article to make it absolutely apparent, and will do so in the future. 

Let me stress though that I have no intention of censoring the site to remove articles critical of the Gazette board members, for example of Chris Weldon's disgraceful attempt to set up a rival organisation to the Gazette  - the ATU Network.  Similarly for the Graham Goddard article in which Graham announced he had been chosen as the next General Secretary and declared

    "The succession policy is well under way it's been discussed at the highest possible level and cannot be stopped" 

without any consultation or debate whatsoever within the Gazette grass roots.  Members have a right to know what their leadership has been up to and to hold them to account.   Were you able to censor this information on a website then it would be but a short step to expelling members who discussed it in private or at meetings; this would be a direct contravention of the open nature of the Gazette.

I see that you have also taken offence at the use of the word 'Pet' when describing the Gazette leadership's relationship with General Secretary Simpson.  I am reluctant to remove it as it seems to me a very concise way of summing up the position at present, nevertheless I will go through the site and attempt to replace it with something less emotive, and will avoid using it in the future. It is certainly legitimate to criticise the subservience of the Gazette to the General Secretary, I quote your fellow Board member and the Gazette Treasurer of 11 years, Bill Young:

        "I sincerely hope at the next AGM the decision to be more subservient to the General Secretary is reversed, and a policy of independence is reiterated, a policy for which the Gazette was established."

As for your threat to expel me from the Gazette I have to say this would be a sad move, not for me personally as I don't enjoy the trek up to Preston (to be block voted down on any left or democratic proposal) but for the future of the Gazette.  It is the short end of a very fat wedge whereby whichever leadership is in control could censor, exclude and suppress democratic dissent within the organisation, and turn it into a blatant election machine for Simpson/Goddard like the ATU Network was intended to be.  It would only hasten the decline of the Gazette as an open and active organisation and I do hope the members will not support it.

Yours sincerely

David Beaumont
www.amicus.cc