| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Isleworth Public Hall | |
| Posted by: | Phil Andrews | |
| Date/Time: | 28/09/10 19:51:00 |
| Butt out? You mean accept that, due to the unusual coincidence of a general election being held on the same day as a local election, my community should revert to the situation it was in in the 1980s and 1990s, with every facet of community life having to be controlled and directed according to the whims of a self-styled political elite and that all the gains we have made on the engagement front over the past 17 years should be casually cast into the bin? Do you know what, I do believe you are right. Call it ego, call it pride, call it conscience, call it anything you like, but I certainly am not prepared to accept that. What I would like to see, if it were down to me, would be some kind of acknowledgement that working with people, alongside people, respecting people rather than perpetually bossing them about is actually a better way, and one that need not be feared by politicians who have confidence in their own abilities to represent their constituents properly. To be truthful I am picking up positive vibes from one or two of your councillors in this regard but one or two is frankly not enough. Sue's (sorry, Councillor Sampson's) outburst on this forum over the weekend suggests to me that nothing at all has changed in your party's psyche. It is complete and utter control or nothing. Under these terms you could well be left with nothing, because a whole lot of people in Isleworth have got used to self-organisation and a relationship with their councillors based upon mutual respect and these are the people who will be turning out to vote in 2014 when the Gumbys revert to staying at home. In case you think these are empty words just consider that in just over a year I will be fifty. I have been involved in politics of one kind or another since I was at school. I enjoyed my twelve years as a councillor but it would be no wrench whatsoever, none at all, for me to hang up my rosette for good. My continued interest in working for my community could quite easily be satisfied by doing something for The Isleworth Society, my local RA or my Church. But I am not going to do this in the knowledge that a freak election result (your words if you recall) has wiped out everything I and my colleagues have achieved and returned everything to Square One. Would you? In fact, when the ICG won in Isleworth and Syon did the Labour Party party "butt out", or did it stand for election again the next time around? I don't expect the Labour Party in victory to suddenly go all democratic and community-friendly on us. I can only speak for myself but I would be content to see it shift half way. But the abusive, smug, superior, triumphalist, self-worshipping entity that I still see on this forum and hear about writing letters to community groups and associations telling them who they can and cannot invite to their activities seems no better than the animal we were dealing with a decade and a half ago. This mentality was captured perfectly by "Lawrence Brown", a poster on this forum who bragged at the weekend that the Labour Party wanted the ICG to continue as a political force because he believed that we and the resurgent Conservative Party he for some reason expects to see will divide the anti-Labour vote and keep Labour councillors in office. It is a hope based upon a series of bad misconceptions, but that's by the by. As to who he really is, well I'd been kinda hoping that you'd be able to throw some light on that for me. |