My thunderer in today's @thetimes looks at how journalists' details are being flagged to a secretive unit in the Cabinet Office that screens #FOI requests, putting a key democratic safeguard, the impartiality of the freedom of information system, at risk. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/a-transparent-foi-system-is-vital-for-good-government-drk2p8zgh

I submitted a Subject Access Request to the Cabinet Office nine months (!!!) ago, for all my details that the FOI and clearing house teams held on me. Some of it was quite entertaining, referring to me as the "ever active Mr Greenwood".

Others were somewhat more concerning. Perhaps the worst was this from the Environment Agency, referring my request about reservoir safety in the aftermath of the Whaley Bridge reservoir part-collapse to the Clearing House because it was "sensitive" because i'm a journalist.

And another one from my time at the BBC, this time about sexual assaults recorded by civil service department.

And this one, which the Cabinet Office "wished to clear" prior to being sent out.

Targeting journalists like this ups the risks of interference in the system. Impartiality of freedom of information is a crucial democratic safeguard. It would also be short termist and threaten to bite the government in the arse eventually.

A lack of timely transparency poured petrol on the PPE and lobbying scandals, allowing them to fester and become long-running issues which have really distracted the government from meeting its core commitments. A bit more transparency a bit earlier may well have defused them...