In my apparent role as OfBlog I'm pleased to announce that we've seen a flurry of online local Conservative action.
No seriously I am, really.
I've not got the highest faith in the local "opposition" however regardless of my feelings it's great to see some activity and some information.
With a turnout in my ward of less than 40% the current shambles that we call a Council is genuinely vulnerable to being ousted, or at least so threatened with being ousted that they actually converse with us (which is different from talk to, on an occasional basis) and work for us.
So local political debate is great, hopefully we might get a Council that cares. However to do that we've got to wake up the 60% of the people who don't vote, connect with and inform them.
Anyway we have a new blog by one of the Conservatives standing as a Councillor for Charlton here:
http://jamesincharlton.blogspot.com/
And Councillor Nigel Fletcher has struck back at my claims that he's more interested in getting himself an expenses account in Westminster than in Greenwich with some interesting posts about what the Council is getting up to.
Thinking about all of this it's actually rather telling of the depths of my despair with my local Councillors and the Council as a whole that I, a Labour supporter, am telling people to go and look at what the Conservatives have to say. Well we've got about a year to question them and see what they have to say before we have to decide who's really interested in running this borough.
One thing that I learned from Councillor Fletcher was that one of my local Councillors, Alan MacCarthy, has been elected to be Mayor.
Now I've initiated contact with my Councillors twice over the past year. Both of those times Councillor MacCarthy has taken a while to respond and then when he basically just passed the buck onto his colleagues.
And now he's got another post he's going to be even less involved in his ward than he is already, if such a thing is possible.
And people wonder why I'm sceptical about my Councillors and their level of commitment?
Perhaps the title of Mayor should go to the Councillor who's worked hardest for his constituents? We certainly wouldn't see Councillor MacCarthy get it then...
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Politics. Show all posts
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Hazel Blears vs. Political Bloggers
A few weeks ago a journalist from the Bexley Times contacted me and asked if I would submit something to go into their Your Shout column in response to Hazel Blears' comments on political bloggers. Amongst many other places you can read about those comments here.
After emailing in my thoughts I was told that the newspaper didn't have room for the column that week and that what I'd said might be reused in the future. I'm not sure that it has been and given the time since I sent it in and that far more eloquent and political local bloggers, such as the Last Boy Scout, were also asked to submit something I doubt that it will ever see print.
So I thought that I might as well share what I had to say here.
I have disdain for the political system and politicians and I’m encouraging a culture of cynicism and despair! What am I doing? Well those are the words that Hazel Blears recently used to describe political bloggers, which is a category in which some would include me.
I have a blog that covers my local life and during my time online I’ve covered a number of political issues that directly affect me. Examples of that would be the peculiar allocation of tickets by Greenwich Council for the first Red Bull Air Race or the recent changes to our rubbish collections.
I’m a strong believer that our political system thrives when people are informed and feel involved and when politicians feel accountable for how they are performing. It’s when those two parts of the system break down that it is damaged. When people feel in the dark about what is happening around them and when there is no examination of what our politicians are doing then the gulf between the electors and the elected grows and real cynicism sets in.
Local blogging can both inform people and expose low level local politicians to the public eye. For example I came to know that it wasn’t just my small area that was affected by rubbish being uncollected and other people in turn knew of my attempts to get things cleaned up. We’re not alone and we can do something about our problems.
It used to be that only the politicians working at a relatively high level were exposed to the public’s gaze and judgement. Now if you go onto the internet and search for your local Councillor the chances are good that you’ll find bloggers talking about them. Good deeds and answered letters will be remembered, details of unanswered letters and promises unfulfilled will be readable for years to come.
We’re shining a light into our political system from the bottom up and that surely has to be a good thing? This isn’t about cynicism but is instead about hope that when we are involved we can change things.
Edited to add: Just after I posted this up I heard from the newspaper and apparently my "Your Shout" went into the paper yesterday. I should try and get a copy...
After emailing in my thoughts I was told that the newspaper didn't have room for the column that week and that what I'd said might be reused in the future. I'm not sure that it has been and given the time since I sent it in and that far more eloquent and political local bloggers, such as the Last Boy Scout, were also asked to submit something I doubt that it will ever see print.
So I thought that I might as well share what I had to say here.
I have disdain for the political system and politicians and I’m encouraging a culture of cynicism and despair! What am I doing? Well those are the words that Hazel Blears recently used to describe political bloggers, which is a category in which some would include me.
I have a blog that covers my local life and during my time online I’ve covered a number of political issues that directly affect me. Examples of that would be the peculiar allocation of tickets by Greenwich Council for the first Red Bull Air Race or the recent changes to our rubbish collections.
I’m a strong believer that our political system thrives when people are informed and feel involved and when politicians feel accountable for how they are performing. It’s when those two parts of the system break down that it is damaged. When people feel in the dark about what is happening around them and when there is no examination of what our politicians are doing then the gulf between the electors and the elected grows and real cynicism sets in.
Local blogging can both inform people and expose low level local politicians to the public eye. For example I came to know that it wasn’t just my small area that was affected by rubbish being uncollected and other people in turn knew of my attempts to get things cleaned up. We’re not alone and we can do something about our problems.
It used to be that only the politicians working at a relatively high level were exposed to the public’s gaze and judgement. Now if you go onto the internet and search for your local Councillor the chances are good that you’ll find bloggers talking about them. Good deeds and answered letters will be remembered, details of unanswered letters and promises unfulfilled will be readable for years to come.
We’re shining a light into our political system from the bottom up and that surely has to be a good thing? This isn’t about cynicism but is instead about hope that when we are involved we can change things.
Edited to add: Just after I posted this up I heard from the newspaper and apparently my "Your Shout" went into the paper yesterday. I should try and get a copy...
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