Pulp friction

The Age of Open Government no 1: Black Rod and the Clerk of the Parliaments have finally apologised to Lady Dainton, widow of Lord Fred, formerly vice-chancellor of Nottingham University and chair of both the University Grants Committee and the British Library, for pulping papers left at the Houses of Parliament after his death late last year.

The boxes were waiting for delivery to Lady Dainton when the authorities unilaterally decided to weed them - sending on exclusively personal documents, but disposing of the rest. Rather a blow to the writer who is completing Lord Dainton's autobiography for while the papers of the Lords committees he chaired or served on have been made available, any notes, comments and emendations he made on the documents have been lost for good.