We were wrong. So, so wrong.

We now understand that promising elections and then not holding them is a brilliant way of increasing credibility and trust with stakeholders. Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly has standards that are too exacting.

When it comes to the broader membership of the Steering Group, we now understand that the brave decision to maintain total public silence while elections were cancelled shows an unrelenting and courageous adherence to democracy that would make Gandhi jealous. Prioritising friendships and access to decision-makers over irrelevancies like the accountability and transparency is the only responsible course of action. We do not understand how we could have been so blind all these years. We are politically immature.

Following an explanation, we totally see how publishing 13 blog posts in 2 years is a top-notch communication strategy. We apologise for any misunderstanding our intemperate rantings may have caused.

We understand that the only responsible course of action after the monumental success that was the 2012 Stakeholder conference was to wait until January of 2013 to begin any sort of planning for the next conference. Only then could the conference be shorter, smaller and more exclusive. The misunderstanding was entirely ours, and our blog posts on this have been _really unhelpful_.

We totally “get” that holding “stakeholder steering group” meetings in secret, and failing to release minutes even after you repeatedly promise to do so is the act of a responsible and diligent team. The fog has lifted – any muppet can see that it sends a signal of reliability and clarity and so builds the reputation of an already prominent group. . Anyone who thinks otherwise clearly needs psychological help. We have some CBT booked.

We now realise the best way to explain who the chairs of the sub-groups of the Steering Group is to promise to do so in early January and to have still not done so by early March. How else can stakeholders be kept informed about what is going on? What were we thinking? We have no explanation.

We grovel and hope that this means we will get an interview with the new chair of the Steering Group whoever he – or perhaps marginally less likely she – might be. Having protested in public for so long about cancelled elections, shrinking conferences and abortive websites, they clearly have the skills and courage needed to have difficult conversations with stakeholders, and the personal credibility to improve even further on the fantastic situation Manchester finds itself in. And we will never ever imply that the kudos of having a role comes with pesky obligations of actually fulfilling it/keeping publicly-stated commitments. We have learnt our lesson.

Finally, we now realise that we should never have written that open letter to the Steering Group in January 2012 listing a series of simple low-cost actions it could take to raise its profile and raise the level of awareness of climate change issues in the city. We realise that the Steering Group is made up of towering intellects with inexhaustible supplies of knowledge, energy and innovation, and that they were therefore right to not even acknowledge the existence of the open letter. We have shown ourselves to be relentlessly negative and lacking in any positive proposals whatsoever.

We apologise, profusely and profoundly.

Before judgement is passed, we would like the following crimes of our negativity to be taken into consideration;
Publishing 61 print editions of Manchester Climate Monthly. Publishing 14 print editions of Manchester Climate Monthly. Publishing 13 blog posts in two weeks. (For every two weeks for the last 14 months or so.) Publishing the “Only Planet” book of articles.

Specifically – Arwa would like to apologise for intervening at the January 2009 meeting of the Manchester City Council Executive. If only she had shut up, we wouldn’t have had this whole wretched stakeholder process foisted upon us. Beyond Green could have written a climate strategy as brilliant as the “Call to Action.” She would also like to apologise for all those interviews she has conducted and transcribed, and all those articles.

Marc would like to apologise for establishing the “Call to Real Action” process. Left alone to its own devices, the Council would have devised a far more open and democratic process to write a strategy. And his role in getting the Economy Scrutiny Committee to consider steady state economics. And his role in “Activist Skills and Knowledge” And that book of articles about Manchester and Climate Change.[Ed, you’ve done this one]. And all those networking events. And the conferences. And the forwarded emails that people clearly find so unuseful, since they say thank you very much or else then post them on their own websites without acknowledgement of source.

We are clearly deeply deeply negative people with standards that are simply too exacting.

Please forgive us. And then show us you love us by giving us a grant or two. Then we will feel like we are players.

Arwa Aburawa and Marc Hudson