Well done Joe!

So what's the alternative? There are quite specific public sector procurement laws. Otherwise you end up with the danger of "jobs for the boys". Restricting business of this nature to the "locals" is dangerous and narrow minded. Factor in the size and state of the UK economy, then it is no surprise that agencies can and should be able to pitch for what they feel is appropriate, wherever it may be. Vice versa, organisations must feel free to open up the process to anyone, anywhere as long as they have the skills.

This was an open public tender - as it needed to be. Any of those agencies were free to pitch. I have no idea if they did or they didn't.

In the end, Bournemouth went with an agency with a strong track record in this field - and the project is currently progressing very well, with both sides very happy. Location was not an issue to them, or us. We do after all have an office only 80+ miles away from them.

Matt, as the director of a Bournemouth agency working with creatives, I don't doubt your sincerity, but do question the impartiality. I say that without trying to inflame the argument. You are after all a champion for design in the local area. I just don't think you can extend that in to "galling and a gross oversight".

Gets my vote.

Web site owners can hardly be blamed for waiting when the regulations are pretty unworkable as they stand and when the UK government said they would seek to find a technical solution via the browser manufacturers. Nothing has been heard since.

The ICO themselves described the regulations as "challenging" and the government said "it will take some time for workable technical solutions to be developed, evaluated and rolled out so we have decided that a phased in approach is right".

So whilst certain elements of the directive are easier to deal with, the technical issues regarding consent can't just be solved by web site owners.

Why don't the 13 agencies come together and say no?