Monday, January 21, 2008

Let's get back to some old politics

I'm fed up with the constant sloganising about "change", and "new politics". It seems to go along with more scraping away of our powers as voters. As Lord Greaves put it in a letter to the Independent last Saturday:

the key must be the revival and re-establishment of local democracy.
The Victorians invented multi-purpose local authorities, elected
democratically and accountable to local people, because that is the best
way to organise services at a local level, provide a strategic vision
for local communities and represent their needs to government. Unless we
achieve a massive renaissance of local democracy, dismantling national
bureaucracies and sweeping away the confusion of quangos, all the rest
is pie in the sky.


We must reverse the trend to treat local councillors as elected employees of the state, submerged in paper.

Frank Little

1 comment:

Aberavon and Neath Liberal Democrats said...

Change is coming whether we like it or not!

We cannot continue on this path. The change will be inspired by a person who can reinvigorate interest in the political process among the youth of this country.

Barack Obama has shown, in the United States, that this is possible if you can offer people HOPE. Sooner or later this country will follow suit, we might aswell embrace it now rather than, as usual, wait until the rest of the world has passed us by.

All it takes is that inspiration, that spark to light the flame, that inspirational leader that people will follow. I am hoping that that leader is Nick Clegg.

- Richie Northcote