| Topic: | Re:Re::Re:Re:A Debate without the Keens being present - BUMP | |
| Posted by: | Phil Andrews | |
| Date/Time: | 05/07/09 13:47:00 |
| "Suffice to say the whole reason I've essentially given up posting on this particular forum..." Adam, this would seem an odd remark to make seeing as you probably contribute more regularly now than at any time in the past - not that your contributions are not invariably welcome and helpful, I should add. If this is a "political stunt" (on the part of the Liberal Democrats, presumably) it would seem odd that it is being participated in by the Conservative PPC and by councillors from both the ICG and the Hounslow Independent Alliance, as well as by respected non-politically aligned individuals such as the Editor of this forum, the Editor of the Hounslow and Brentford Times and the Chair of the Local Chamber of Commerce, to name a few. I'm afraid it is an easy cop-out for the Keens and their supporters simply to say that they won't be attending the event because it is a "political stunt". Presumably their non-attendence at the hustings meetinsg during the 2005 general election campaign was justified in the same way? In my own neck of the woods the Labour Party has a long and proud tradition of hardly ever attending events other than those organised and controlled by themselves and - guess what? - the reasoning being that resident-led activities are deemed to be "political stunts". The fact that this series of meetings has been organised by the Liberal Democrats hasn't prevented members of the ICG from distributing leaflets around Isleworth by the thousand urging residents to attend. Most political parties and groups in Hounslow recognise that public meetings are an integral part of the democratic process and an opportunity for local residents to express their views and frustrations. It is only New Labour that insists on standing arrogantly aloof from public engagement of any meaningful kind. |