MOVE ALONG PLEASE..
.......nothing to see here. Or is there? It seems that in the coming bleak midwinter, we`ll be expected to turn out and vote for a Police and Crime Commissioner. Sounds like a scene from Batman involving Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City and although I may not mind the Police bit, I could do without someone commissioning crime.
Anyway, here in deepest Kent and elsewhere in the country, the candidates for this high profile and highly paid job are lining up. And it is truly sad to see that, once again, the dead hand of politics comes into play with most of the prospective candidates coming from the main political parties. It seems that politicians are incapable of keeping their noses out of any part of our lives - even Dibley Parish Council has its share of political devotees.
So we are in for yet more political yah-booing, point scoring, name calling and other primary school activities as they fight over the sinecures being presented under the guise of progress and people power. Perhaps the stand out example is shown above, where Lord Prescott is standing as Police and Crime Commissioner in Hull. Now if a buffoon like him can presume to convince us that he`s just the chap to bring crime in Hull to an end, oversee complex budgets, determine policing strategies and motivate Hull`s boys in blue, then once more I fear for our collective sanity.
It`s interesting to see that some of the candidates away from the main political parties include those from the English Defence League, the English Democrats, former police officers (surprise, surprise) as well as former magistrates and a smattering of genuinely
independent souls and it`s these who have a chip on their shoulders about the fact that, whilst the main parties can afford to mailshot voters singing the praises of their candidates, the smaller, more independent candidates may not be able to.
So they`re petitioning Downing Street and Parliament for a free mailshot for all candidates. The cost is put at £25-£30million - too expensive says Police Minister Nick Herbert. (There`s something deliciously appropriate about a Police Minister being called NIck.) People can use the internet, he suggests, quite ignoring the fact that as many as seven million people in this country don`t use the internet and so would be disadvantaged by not having the details they need about the individual candidates.
There are fears in high places that these November elections will attract a very low turnout. And those fears could be well founded not only because of the timing involved, the weird voting system that will be used and the natural turn-off if chumps like Prescott are up for election, but also because of a natural aversion to the intrusion of politics into yet another dark recess of our everyday lives. I think, after all, I might just move along as there`s nothing to see here and give the whole thing a miss.
Anyway, here in deepest Kent and elsewhere in the country, the candidates for this high profile and highly paid job are lining up. And it is truly sad to see that, once again, the dead hand of politics comes into play with most of the prospective candidates coming from the main political parties. It seems that politicians are incapable of keeping their noses out of any part of our lives - even Dibley Parish Council has its share of political devotees.
So we are in for yet more political yah-booing, point scoring, name calling and other primary school activities as they fight over the sinecures being presented under the guise of progress and people power. Perhaps the stand out example is shown above, where Lord Prescott is standing as Police and Crime Commissioner in Hull. Now if a buffoon like him can presume to convince us that he`s just the chap to bring crime in Hull to an end, oversee complex budgets, determine policing strategies and motivate Hull`s boys in blue, then once more I fear for our collective sanity.
It`s interesting to see that some of the candidates away from the main political parties include those from the English Defence League, the English Democrats, former police officers (surprise, surprise) as well as former magistrates and a smattering of genuinely
independent souls and it`s these who have a chip on their shoulders about the fact that, whilst the main parties can afford to mailshot voters singing the praises of their candidates, the smaller, more independent candidates may not be able to.
So they`re petitioning Downing Street and Parliament for a free mailshot for all candidates. The cost is put at £25-£30million - too expensive says Police Minister Nick Herbert. (There`s something deliciously appropriate about a Police Minister being called NIck.) People can use the internet, he suggests, quite ignoring the fact that as many as seven million people in this country don`t use the internet and so would be disadvantaged by not having the details they need about the individual candidates.
There are fears in high places that these November elections will attract a very low turnout. And those fears could be well founded not only because of the timing involved, the weird voting system that will be used and the natural turn-off if chumps like Prescott are up for election, but also because of a natural aversion to the intrusion of politics into yet another dark recess of our everyday lives. I think, after all, I might just move along as there`s nothing to see here and give the whole thing a miss.
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