Interesting letter!

I have received a letter from the BBC complaints department. The 'change.org' website does not include a facility for attachments so to explain, it is in response to a letter I sent to the BBC director general, Tony Hall, which I paste below. The reply advises it may take them longer than the 20 working days that is normally their target for responding to complaints. There are two points about the reply I find curious. Firstly, the fact it has been referred to the complaints department when, as you can see, I am not on this occasion making a complaint other than in the sense I am stating I believe the judgement on my complaint was a bad one. All the more so because, more than once, they have told me their decision was final so they have nothing further to add and theoretically they are just going over the same ground. Secondly, those points beg the question of why it should take longer than the usual 20 working days to respond. Whether those point are significant,we will hopefully know fairly soon. However, perhaps it might just be that the idea of a petition has them concerned, combined with, again as you can see, I call their bluff. To update you on what I am doing, today I achieved the lead letter in my local paper, Lowestoft Journal, and have had letters in the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times - some of you I know have seen them. Here is my letter to Tony Hall: Dear Mr Hall, My complaint about Still Open All Hours I wrote to you previously with regard my complaint about the mimicking of stammering in Still Open All Hours. You passed my letter to the complaints department for response. They advised I had exhausted the appeal avenues and as their decision was final there was nothing further they or you could add. I infer the reply was also in effect saying it would not be appropriate for you to get involved. It is the response I expected but nevertheless I think it appropriate to inform the director general when a bad decision has been made by the BBC and to explain why it is a bad decision. I am writing again for two reasons: firstly, to advise that as there is to be another run of six episodes of Still Open All Hours starting on Boxing Day, I will be watching them. If there is any mimicking of and/or other joking about stammering I will set up a petition on the 'change.org' website. Secondly, I would like to make a suggestion. Regardless of the fact the BBC seemingly disagrees with my view of Still Open All Hours, as a point of balance, is it prepared to consider a documentary on stammering showing what a difficult impediment/disability it can be and how it can affect, often traumatically, the lives of those with the condition? Of particular interest might be the Dominic Barker Trust (www.dominicbarkertrust.org), which was set up by the parents of Dominic Barker as a result of him committing suicide at the age of twenty-six because of his stammer. I am sure Alan and Helen Barker would be pleased to tell the story and find the interest comforting. Also, if as it seems a run of six episodes of Still Open All Hours is to be an annual event starting on Boxing Day, while a documentary of that sort may not be normal viewing for a Sunday evening, it might be appropriate to programme it immediately preceding or immediately following the sit com. As those involved with Still Open All Hours seemingly do not believe they are treating stammering in the wrong way it seems reasonable to assume they would not object to the idea. Finally, I enclose copy of the first page of a letter circulated by Norbert Lieckfeldt, chief executive of the British Stammering Association for its Christmas appeal. It gives good examples of the difficulties stammerers can face and the distress it can cause, no just for sufferers but also those close to them. I look forward to the response. Yours sincerely, John Thompson