17 September (Part 3) - Friendly and not so friendly
I entirely forgot that yesterday was Bonkers’ twelfth birthday. It was not a
blog in 2009, that evolved later, and it is not yet eleven years since
I
attended my first Council meeting. Many years earlier I frequently attended
meetings of senior managers at work and I had no real idea of whether they were
well conducted or not, they were the only ones I knew.
I thought that by comparison Bexley’s meeting was a pretty amateurish affair.
The summary was “an aimless mess of a meeting that achieved nothing whatever”.
In the following ten years or so I have learned a lot more about the apparent
competence of Councillors but with a few exceptions I still don’t know them particularly well.
With nothing much worth reporting today I thought I would place them into three
categories; those who studiously ignore my presence at meetings whatever the circumstances, those who
appear to be a lot less stand-offish and a few that do not fit neatly into either category.
Councillors who have ignored me totally for more than ten years or since election.
Cheryl Bacon (C), Linda Bailey (C), Nigel Betts(C), Brian Bishop (C), Christine
Bishop (C), Sybil Camsey (C), Christine Catterall (C), Val Clark (C), Peter
Craske (C), Joe Ferreira (L), Louie French (C), Sue Gower (C), David Leaf (C),
Geraldene Lucia-Hennis (C), Nick O’Hare (C), Eileen Pallen (C), Wendy Perfect
(L), Philip Read (C), Melvin Seymour (C), Brad Smith (C), Adam Wildman (C). A
total of 19 Conservative Councillors and two Labour.
Councillors who appear to be happy to engage in friendly conversation some much more often than others.
Esther Amaning (L), Stefano Borella (L), John Davey (C), Richard Diment (C),
Andy Dourmoush (C), Daniel Francis (L), John Fuller (C), Danny Hackett (I), Sally
Hinkley (L), James Hunt (C), Brenda Langstead (L), Mabel Ogundayo (L), Peter
Reader (C), Alex Sawyer (C), June Slaughter (C), Nicola Taylor (L). That’s eight
Conservatives, seven Labour and one Independent.
Those that fall into an intermediate category (†).
Alan Downing (C), Steven Hall (C), Howard Jackson (C), Cafer Munur (C), Caroline
Newton (C), Teresa O’Neil (C), Dave Putson (L). Six Conservatives and one Labour Councillor.
The observant will have noted one omission. Lisa Moore (C) was elected only last May
and I have not attended a Council meeting since then. My guess is that Lisa would fall into the second category.
† The third category is of Councillors with whom there has been no conversation beyond a
thank you for holding a door open, passing over a heavy Agenda, including me in
a greeting when passing by while I was speaking to another Councillor or a
specific and personal welcome to a meeting.
Dave Putson (Labour, Belvedere) has quite often sent friendly emails but I do
not recall our paths crossing more than momentarily.