Never mind calling Norm a muppet - did you ask permission from the other party to post a private conversation on a public website, identifying them in the process?
The content and context of the exchange (the important part in relation to this thread) has not been changed, simply depersonalised, which is more than reasonable from where I'm standing!!
Such correspondence is public under FoI and there is nothing in it that could warrant its being considered private. In public life your assumption must be that everything you write as a public servant is public under FoI or DPA unless you have a very strong case (e.g. legal privilege) for it not being.