Thirty years after Labour first prom-ised it, the Freedom of Information Act finally conies into force on January 1st. Most other democracies already have such laws, but obsession with secrecy, as Richard Crossman, a former Labour minister, once remarked, is "the British disease". Under the original Official Secrets Act, it was illegal for a civil servant to make public any information that had not been authorised by a minister-which, as many pointed out, made the number of sugar-lumps officials put in their tea a state secret. All this, says the government, is about to change. But not everyone is rejoicing. Many officials, and some ministers, view the approaching deadline with something approaching panic.
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