Local elections for local people
While Greg Dyke flirts with Labour’s enemies and commentators debate whether David Milliband’s last denial he would stand in the Labour leadership contest really was last, you could be forgiven for forgetting there are local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish parliamentary elections within two weeks.
As these are the first UK elections in which blogs will have a significant influence, this blog review will take a break from Westminster politics for the next two weeks and concentrate on the grassroots.
Thousands of blogs will be preaching party manifestoes. No doubt interested parties can locate them. But here we show what blogs do best: expose incompetence and/or negligence.
Bad news this week for Lib Dems in Darlington as Labour councilor Nick Wallis reports: “For reasons not yet explained, Cllr. Jones signed the nomination papers of BNP candidate Daniel Brown, who is also standing in the town's North Road ward. As Cllr. Jones also signed the nomination papers of fellow LibDem candidates Mike Barker and Fred Lawton, he was effectively placing his own candidacy in a very curious position!”
Meanwhile, in West Aberdeenshire, A Big Stick and a Small Carrot has done a bit of research and found holes in a local Labour candidate’s campaign.
It was reported the ‘green’ Conservatives scored 0/10 in a Scottish Friends of the Earth green test. Kerron Cross offers his view on the matter: “A cynic would be forgiven for thinking that the Tories' words about caring for the environment are just another cheap gimmick, but I am prepared to be more charitable. But that is probably because I, like everyone else, know the Tories will get very few votes in Scotland whatever they say to us!”
Not only will Shrewsbury be hosting the Shrewsbury cartoon festival this weekend, but as Dizzy discusses, it will also be trialing a new way of increasing voter turnout: “Have just heard that the first electronic console polling station in this year’s local elections will be open on Saturday in a shopping centre in Shrewsbury. Let's hope the system is neither overloaded or loses data.
“Apparently Shrewsbury will also be having text message voting and Internet voting as well. Wonder how long it will take for someone to make allegations of electoral fraud after the results?”
Finally, a chance to see how another of a blog’s best qualities can be used in these elections. Welsh blogger Blambell Briefs has invited questions that he will pass on to four Welsh politicians in a feature he is calling Honest John.
This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.
As these are the first UK elections in which blogs will have a significant influence, this blog review will take a break from Westminster politics for the next two weeks and concentrate on the grassroots.
Thousands of blogs will be preaching party manifestoes. No doubt interested parties can locate them. But here we show what blogs do best: expose incompetence and/or negligence.
Bad news this week for Lib Dems in Darlington as Labour councilor Nick Wallis reports: “For reasons not yet explained, Cllr. Jones signed the nomination papers of BNP candidate Daniel Brown, who is also standing in the town's North Road ward. As Cllr. Jones also signed the nomination papers of fellow LibDem candidates Mike Barker and Fred Lawton, he was effectively placing his own candidacy in a very curious position!”
Meanwhile, in West Aberdeenshire, A Big Stick and a Small Carrot has done a bit of research and found holes in a local Labour candidate’s campaign.
It was reported the ‘green’ Conservatives scored 0/10 in a Scottish Friends of the Earth green test. Kerron Cross offers his view on the matter: “A cynic would be forgiven for thinking that the Tories' words about caring for the environment are just another cheap gimmick, but I am prepared to be more charitable. But that is probably because I, like everyone else, know the Tories will get very few votes in Scotland whatever they say to us!”
Not only will Shrewsbury be hosting the Shrewsbury cartoon festival this weekend, but as Dizzy discusses, it will also be trialing a new way of increasing voter turnout: “Have just heard that the first electronic console polling station in this year’s local elections will be open on Saturday in a shopping centre in Shrewsbury. Let's hope the system is neither overloaded or loses data.
“Apparently Shrewsbury will also be having text message voting and Internet voting as well. Wonder how long it will take for someone to make allegations of electoral fraud after the results?”
Finally, a chance to see how another of a blog’s best qualities can be used in these elections. Welsh blogger Blambell Briefs has invited questions that he will pass on to four Welsh politicians in a feature he is calling Honest John.
This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.
posted by Owen Walker at 11:30 PM
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