19 July (Part 2) - Blog birthdays
Hugh Neal of Maggot Sandwich fame is celebrating
the 20th birthday of his blog today which reminded me that Bonkers had a birthday
last week and I did not give it a thought. It has now been going for more than
17 years while Hugh says that the average lifespan of a blog is 18 months. It takes
up far too much time but without it Bexley Council could operate as a Secret Society.
I met a Councillor on a train last week and said that I had no idea how many
people read Bonkers and was assured that everyone does. Councillors presumably
which is not the intended target audience. And it is not even true, an email from a
Councillor earlier this month began “I do not usually read blogs but…”
It used to be that Bonkers was regarded as the enemy of Bexley Council and I
think staff are still banned from reading it at work. Three times Councillors
have objected to the truth to the extent they have reported me to the police.
Baroness O’Neill for “criticising Councillors”, by former Cabinet Member Don
Massey for repeating an anonymised version of his own publicly available family
Facebook page, and by Maxine Fothergill, described by her colleagues as “that
vile woman”, for accurately reporting her highly dubious business practices.
Forged letters, encouraging fraudulent behaviour by employees and more. Has anyone told Rupert Lowe yet?
Things are very different now. Councillors are prepared to speak to me in a pub,
beg copies of photographs, keep in touch via Social Media and joke about me
listing Councillors O’Neill and Read among
the loss of talent
since the election - perhaps I should have said experience - and invite me to speak at a meeting.
One recently asked me if I thought Scrutiny meetings could be improved. Maybe
if Councillors were not so ready to accept non-answers
from senior staff and Cabinet Members it would help. Some Councils allow public
questions at Scrutiny meetings but with Bexley not even allowing Call Ins by the
Labour Group that is probably too much to ask.
What I am finding more than a little intriguing at present is why I think that
the current crop of Councillors seem to be a pretty decent bunch and the more
one speaks to them the more one likes them; but I hate Bexley Council as a whole
more than ever before. Probably readers should take that into account when reading these meanderings.
Note 21st July: I have totally lost the plot. Bonkers’ 17th birthday is not due until September