Political blog, July 27: Saga of Kent TV
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It's a tough life being a politician. Even when you're about to
get away on holiday, you can't escape the attention of the
press.
The ritual of the pre-holiday photocall is nearly with us and
both Cameron and Brown will have to endure the withering analysis
of assorted style pundits pouring over their wardrobe in the full
glare of the media spotlight.
Apparently, Gordon Brown has been
told by advisers to mothball the "casual" beige jacket he
sported last year after it provoked widespread derision among the
fashion observers.
Even going on holiday is subject to the careful attention of his
spin doctors. I imagine David Cameron's advisers are doing
likewise after he appeared in Cornwall last year dressed head to
toe in rather expensive clobber from a well-known mail order
company (Boden).
Wonder if they'll advise him to mix it up with a few bits from
Primark?
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While MPs take their 82-day break from Westminster - I
phrase that carefully, as I know they are not on holiday for that
time - it seems that County Hall is not immune from the effects of
the lack of political activity over the summer.
A full council meeting scheduled for September 3 has been
cancelled owing to "lack of business."
Chairman Cllr John Davis writes to members: "The September
meeting was also scheduled to take place during August Bank Holiday
week when I suspect a number of Members will want to take a late
summer break; normally, the September Council meeting would take
place 10 days after the Bank Holiday Monday. "
I have to say that if there's a lack of business, perhaps this
was an opportunity to do something else with the time allotted. KCC
could have run a public ballot, asking residents what issues
or policy proposals they would have liked to have seen debated for
a couple of hours by their democratically-elected representatives.
After all, KCC is making lots of noise about engaging the public
in times of political indifference and widespread antipathy.
Why not try something different?
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Should blogs written by councillors be vetted and/or be
required to abide by some kind of constitutional protocol?
Apparently, Thanet council is weighing up
whether to initiate some kind of formal guidance for councillors
who enter the blogosphere.
The concern appears to be that politicians might be tempted to
stray outside the normal parameters of acceptable conduct when
writing their personal blogs.
This strikes me as unnecessary - as do several bloggers in
Thanet.
Any kind of policy that might lead - inadvertently perhaps - to
regulation or restriction of comment by public authorities of
their elected members is something that should be
resisted.
Councillors are already bound by a code of conduct that many
regard as overly bureaucratic and cumbersome in any case. It has
lots of guidance about what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct
that would amply cover blogging practice and content.
Adding another layer of bureaucracy on top of that just for blog
content seems rather extreme, over-cautious and addressing a
problem which may not exist.
If the issue is about managing blog content and comments, then
that is the responsibility of the individual blogger. If there is
evidence that blogging by councillors is causing some kind of
difficulty for authorities, I haven't seen it.
Monday, July 27 2009
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