One of the many projects on my strangle list is replacing my anti-junk mail website with a brand new website. I retired from campaigning on the junk mail issue in 2016 and created an archived copy of the website in 2019. By that time the information in the infamous Guide to Stamping Out Junk Mail was already hopelessly out of date, so much so that I felt I might as well delete the website. However, I've invested so much time in the project that I can't just let go of it. I want to give the website a proper last hurrah. My aim is to rewrite the guide; publish a history of junk mail in the UK and add a section with miscellaneous resources I've gathered over the years. It should be a valuable resource for anyone with the ambition of becoming a junk mail campaigner and/or with a peculiar interest in junk mail (rather niche, I know).

Writing the history of junk mail is proving to be a an incredibly time-consuming exercise. I've spent countless hours on archive.org and Hanzard, and many of those hours have been frustrating. Sometimes, though, it's fun. For instance, this morning I tried to get a sense of the debate around the introduction of Section 11 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the right to prevent processing of personal data for "direct marketing" purposes). I suspect the junk mail lobby fiercely opposed the "right to object" — these were the days the Direct Marketing Association campaigned against EU proposals to ban unsolicited telephone marketing — but I haven't been able to find anything juicy just yet. I did, however, find a few interesting bits and pieces in transcripts of House of Lords debates.

There's something I like about discussions in the House of Lords. It's partly the fact that they are usually much more informative than debates in the Commons, which often turn into mudslining contests ("I don't take lectures from…"). There's also something endearingly antiquated about the House of Lords. For instance, in one of the debates Baronesss Young of Old Scone argued that the right to object to junk mail marketing shouldn't apply to junk mail from charities. I'm not too bothered about the argument — the advertising industry has wheeled out the charity argument throughout the history of junk mail. It's the Honourable Lady's name: Baronesss Young of Old Scone. I instantly imagine a character from a Roald Dahl book.

And, what to think of this contribution from Viscount Astor (who I could see make an appearance in a Harry Potter book, even though I've never read a Harry Potter book):

I have not spoken so far on this amendment, but perhaps I would like to speak in favour of the Government. The Minister has made a good point. I suppose I ought to declare an interest as my wife is a jeweller and sends out a Christmas catalogue. A few years ago she went through the rather disastrous process of buying a mailing list, which she then utilised. However, all she received for the next month were furious telephone calls from wives saying, "Has my husband been into your shop, and, if so, what did he buy and who for?". That explains the dangers of buying mailing lists. The citizen does have certain rights to be able to say, "I do not want any more".

That's quite a compelling argument in favour of giving people the right to object indeed.