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This Ministry of Defence file, released through The National Archives and published by The Black Vault, holds the MOD's 2002 handling of Dr David Clarke's requests for UFO documents under the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. It includes the MOD's 9 December 2002 reply, which covered reports from 1976, 1980, 1993 and 1996 and charged £260. It also contains internal emails and file requisitions, plus Foreign Office and United Nations papers from 1978 on Grenada's proposal for UFO research.
“Roberts”32 pages
.. }' -:;, l3 why Jcdrell Bank can That w0uld have bern scYerely distressing i' in proclaim that they have had no evidence to my late lamented friend Lord Conesford~ 'orld of sightings of any description which arc and indee:d to me. the not perfectly explicable as natural pheno- . the mena within our own universe. lf there is an agency set up for collecting and correlation of information, as I hope there will be. I suppo~:e it could be called "Ufo info··, which would have a certain elfin charm.· But l am admittedly being absurd, and being so on purpo~e. T am doing it for defensive reasons, and I hope that the noble Earl. will not think that I am being offensive. I am not. I hope that somebody will think of a better word. There is in fact a Greek word " teras", meaning a portent in the sen-;e of a marvel or wonder, which would generate quite !iicc!y a teratologist, or teratology. In fact l am not sure that teratology is not in the dictionary as the ~tudy of monsters. It i~ not a word that is widely used. it i~ not on everyone's lips very of:cn, and it wouid not really matter if it v.·cre taken over to refer to portents. There is a precedent for this kind of thing, in teievisi0n. As noble Lords will know, television originally meant, before it meant wh;::t it means now in the familiar sense as we understand it, clairvoyance, and nobody finds any confusion now. Whatever it may· be known as. let us proceed and not waste time. 1inst ;-;ors )ked the ·end not )fd, lion Jrd: rh~ :s a t:irag een •ag ide Jnc nal ho i I by he J!d ·ds :ld ~~e ih 11e of ds ly .JS ::t 0 IS .y n ·- e I am sorry, th;; existence of UFOs is even nwrc f<:nciful than Giibert and Sullivan's Ioianthe-charming indeed, but I am afraid a joke upon your Lordships' House. I am afraid that some of rny noble friends join the flat-eartbers, who will make the best playmates for this l,particular lobby. We have a duty to the country to explode the myth. Tonight we have been carried away in realms of fascination and delight, but they have precious little to do with the facts. I sugge:.t that the myth must be exploded. We must return to work in this dreary old world and the difficulties we are in. But I beg your Lordships, and in particular the nobie Lord, Lord Strabolgi, fer heavens' sake, no more Government Departments of inquiries. That alone we should be spared as the result of this excellent debate. 9.55 p.m. The Earl of CORK and ORRERY: Mv Lords, I hope that the noble Earl, Lorcl Clancarty, will not be cast down by the speech to which he has just listened. I myself must confess that I know re- markably little about unidentified flying objects. I know a few things about them. I know quite a bit, and I have learned more since the beginning of this debate, about attitudes tow11rds them. They are almost as interesting in some ways. There is one type of attitude towards them that I view with respect, and that is the attitude represented by people who rail themselves, or perhaps to be fair are called by others, " ufologists ". I do not know whether the noble Earl will accept that word. I rather hope he would not. I must make a remark-nobody has done so so far, I suspect rather to his surprise-about the speech of my noble friend Lord Trefgarne. If he had been speaking as a private Back-Bencher l would probably have not said anything, but he was speaking from the Dispatch Box. Therefore, he presumably represents the views of the Party to which I belong. It is a view I wish to disown entirely, Ibecause if a Party of any magnitude cannot produce better views than that on a serious subject, I confess I am ashamed -- ·- ~ ,."""...,---·-:.~';,-.... ·~:--.--,..,·~~. ~-~-- .........,..~·:---"<•" ....,.. ,,- 7--·~:~~ ....-.... -.-.. ~!!~~---,...,.~..-1-'":' _ .._ -·.,.,·:-· ·~ -:~·.-:···;-....-,-,·~ .. ~ ·-,. . •.it .... .. ... :t.
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