Friday 30 October 2009

Even though I'm not nicking a story off him ...

... I'm happy to tip my clown wig at this fellow: Muck&Brass

Why?

A TOWN council has disbanded after members walked out over being constantly criticised by a lone internet blogger.


Poor little mites.

Anyway, let's hear it for Niall Connolly - and may he become a good example to us all.

9 comments:

Constantly Furious said...

"a good example to us all."?

Not sure about that.

What's the difference between this bloke's campaign and Stephen fucking Fry's #janmoir twattering?

Obnoxio The Clown said...

Have you read his blog?

First it's a lot less abusive than mine or yours.

Second, there is pretty clear evidence that the council has just resigned because they couldn't cope with the mildest of scrutiny and reportage.

Thirdly, there's some interesting conflict of interest in the council, which might resonate with people fucked off with MPs creating their own rules and perks.

And finally: it was one man. There was no twitter lynch mob. One man shone a torch at the murky depths of the council's operation and they panicked and ran away.

Constantly Furious said...

Everybody's blog is less abusive than yours. ;-)

With further thought, the Fry comparison was not a good one.

But I'm still not entirely comfortable with this. He didn't uncover any major crime, he didn't prevent any catastrophe.

He just ground away - for 3 years - at a group of people until they eventually thought 'fuck it' and walked away.

Is he going to become a councillor now, and show them how it should be done? I bet he isn't.

Beware of Geeks bearing GIFs said...

"“I feel as though I have a moral commitment to the people here. I have no political agenda and hate all politicians with equal measure"

Nothing wrong with that statement!

Beware of Geeks bearing GIFs said...

In actual fact, I think the more I read his blog, the more he tries to shed some light of accountability on them:

The problem that both Somerton and its Town Council share is that behind that particular application lies the business interests of A H Canvin and the fact that A H Canvin is also Cllr A H Canvin complicates the issue for all parties. Where this clear conflict causes greatest difficulty is with regard to whether or not Somerton Town Council were going to consider the interests of the community first or were Somerton Town Council going to consider the interests of A H Canvin first.

I have also experienced this sort of thing in our council and have made my own representations to this behaviour.

HeartAttackSurvivor said...

CF: "Is he going to become a councillor now, and show them how it should be done? I bet he isn't."
Sorry, that's specious reasoning and doesn't do anything but deflect the blame. In the words of a good friend of mine, if your doctor is shit do you train to become a doctor yourself, or do you get yourself a different doctor?

manwiddicombe said...

It makes Guido look like an amateur

:D

Constantly Furious said...

"if your doctor is shit do you train to become a doctor yourself, or do you get yourself a different doctor?"

Equally specious.

No-one can become a doctor overnight. Virtually anyone can become a councillor. And should if they have strong - bordering on obsessive - views on how a council should behave.

The guy's got what he presumably wanted: the town council is disbanded, the public have applauded and .. and .. what now?

There isn't 'another' town council to go to, is there?

bayard said...

Being a town councillor is unpaid and boring and costs you an evening of your life a week. Hence it unsurprisingly tends to attract single-issue fanatics and people who have an interest. In an ideal world, such councils would be staffed by people with a real interest in democracy and the community, but in the real world, such people have better things to do. Many town and parish councils are inquorate because they simply can't find enough people who want to be on them, even without some blogger persecuting them. He should do something useful and go after the County Council or his MP.