17/11/2012
We started the day (or overnight) noting that even the loss-making
Guardian had recognised that Mr Cameron's bum steer has been given the bum's rush. But at least the people of the entity called "Humberside" have been bright enough to reject Prescott and Godfrey Bloom. Even a Conservative is better than that pair.
I am glad though, that the paper recognises that this is not voter "apathy". The voter has been given no reason to vote", says the electoral reform society. Where, as in the referendums on Council Tax, the public could see the point in voting, the turnout actually increased. This is not the public that got it wrong - the political classes screwed up.
What is interesting here is that the political classes seem so keen on foisting us with ever-increasing numbers of elected officials - mayors and police - yet we have a prime minister and his cabinet who are not elected. What us good for the goose ... and all that. Mr Cameron might like to think about putting the issue of an elected prime minister to the public.
Meanwhile, of course, we're in Leamington Spa, a bloggers' convention apart from anything else, struggling with a surfeit of CH3CH2OH. We'll make more sense when it's all over, although there is some suggestion that we should be live blogging the event, which I am attempting in a sporadic way.
With
Autonomous Mind,
Witterings from Witney and
Foiling Brog here, that should be quite fun, and we should get a good fix on proceedings. So far, the six demands have been put and agreed and we are into the boring stuff of discussing the organisation of a new movement. Is the Tea Party a good model?
What we are considering is a Company limited by guarantee, with a working board to steer the movement. On this, we should build a network of speakers to take ownership of the "six demands" and set up a series of workshops to bring the message to the people. Check out Autonomous Mind - link above, for his observations.
The crucial thing, we believe, is that this becomes a grass-roots movement, by-passing the elites and the political classes. The high-flown rhetoric comes easily to such occasions, but the reality is that this that we are in this for the long-haul and need to deal with the nuts and bolts of strategy. Deadly detail but very necessary.
