Local Democracy Notepad

Broadly, the Conservative Party are proposing a greater degree of operational co-operation with neighbouring councils in order to earn the right to retain more of their Council Tax revenues.

In speaking to the proposals, Eric Pickles is clear that this would not involve any changes to political structures, or any reductions in the number of local councillors.

I’m never sure whether think-pieces work when the audience is on holiday. Personally, the old adage about getting a busy person to help when you need something doing can be adapted here: If you want to get people’s attention with a new idea, don’t pick a time when they are relaxing to pitch it. If it’s a good-un, it will cut through the clutter of a busy week-day.

Others don’t share my view though, and a few bloggers have clearly chosen the Christmas period to hit ‘publish’ on a few things that have been in their drafts folder for a while.

Here’s Podnosh asking why government doesn’t have reservists?

Here’s Read-Write-Web with what is (for me, anyway) a very optimistic post about re-localisation.

“In Web 1.0, these local businesses were viewed as roadkill. Everything would be ordered online and delivered by air and trucks from giant automated warehouses. Oops, lousy economics; plus increasing consumer push-back. So now Web 2.0 start-ups want to “partner” with these local businesses.”

And finally, RSA chief and former Downing St insider Matthew Taylor here outlines what he believes to be an opportunity for a new progressivism.

“This period was superseded by the long era of dominant individualism which may finally have come to an end with the credit crunch and subsequent downturn. Individualism fostered a remarkable era of innovation and freedom but was already subject to powerful critiques, especially from egalitarians emphasising growing inequality, high levels of social and individual pathology and, most of all, the dangers of climate change.”

He promises to flesh it out a good deal in 2009.

From a really fascinating article, just one gem:

“Intriguingly, different linguistic communities seem to have very different blogospheric topologies. The English-language blogosphere appears as a knotty, fibrous mesh, while Scandinavian and Japanese blogs map as something more closely resembling a blotchy Jackson Pollock painting. Russian blogs, by contrast, seem to be heavily clustered in dispersed and minimally interconnected wedges.”

As I say, this is just one little bit. Do read the whole thing.

It’s a view that doesn’t get much support amongst the blogosphere, but there is a Parliamentary perspective upon democracy that is rarely advanced or defended. Listening to the BBC’s Moral Maze programme – this week’s question “Can there be too much democracy?” (you will need to hurry – it’s not archived and will only be available for a few more days), a reference was made to an article by one of the witnesses (Matthew Parris) – it was too good to ignore. (Update 21.1.09: just seen that Daniel Heaf has the whole thing on his site here).

Here’s a sample:

“My worry is not about the unsettled but the settled opinions of the public. On a range of questions central to the working of a free market liberal democracy, the general public, if asked, will consistently give the wrong answer. These are neither illiterate nor capricious people. They understand the questions and have thought about them. And they keep reaching the wrong conclusions. They therefore have to be ignored. This is an uncomfortable conclusion for a democrat.

Here are ten examples:

• The populace do not believe in free speech.
• They do not believe in freedom of movement.
• They do not believe in adversarial politics.
• They do not believe in an adversarial legal system.
• They do not believe a man is innocent until proved guilty.
• They do not believe the market should determine prices.
• They do not believe the market should determine wages.
• They do not believe anyone should profit from scarcity.
• They think increased productivity will increase unemployment.
• They do not believe an immigrant should take a job for which there is already willing indigenous labour.

Many of these arguments are perfectly absurd; others are superficially attractive but dangerous; others are workable but only in a fascist state. But if you believe that you could persuade a town hall full of ordinary voters to reject any one of the contentions I have summarised above, then try it. I have.”

The whole thing is here.

Well, we knew it was coming – here:

“New proposals to make it easier to get local leaders to hold a referendum on their leadership structure, putting communities firmly in control of their town and council, has been published for consultation by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears.”

It is particularly interesting that these votes will be on the chosen structure of local government. It appears to be an extension of the idea that ‘constitutional change’ is a suitable subject for referendums.

(Oh, one other thing: I know I should know this, but can someone give me a final ruling? I’ve never been certain – is the plural of ‘referendum’ really ‘referenda’?)

A few years ago, if your house was being visited by the constabulary, and they found a copy of ‘The Anarchist Cookbook’ with it’s various recipes for bombs, their inspection would immediately become more thorough, and your chances of avoiding a few hours ‘helping the police with their enquiries’ would diminish to zero.

Here’s a modern-day equivalent. Decidedly less incendiary, and not written to advance the causes of any dangerous extremists. But, nonetheless, the ‘Secret Guide to Social Media in Large Organisations‘ – a Canadian how-to manual for seizing the initiative using social media – is well worth a look.

If you imagine you are in control of an organisation – have a look. If you would like to be – you may have seen it already…..

There’s a good deal of useful stuff here for anyone with an interest in new conversational applications.

The three that stand out for me are….

• PatientsLikeMe
• TeachStreet
• OpenCongress

The others are worth thinking about though. Mint, for example – in a year when finance-literacy is becoming very relevant indeed – aggregates a lot of personal data very neatly.

And for next year? The same site has a bit of a wishlist….

If ever a review were overdue, it’s the one that Hazel Blears has just announced (though it was heavily trailed in the ‘Communities in Control’ White Paper) into the rules that determine what publicity councils can and can’t do.

I’ve visited approximately 100 local authorities in the UK, trying to persuade councils to help councillors take their first steps in using interactive tools. Usually, the project I’ve been promoting is one where Councillors are provided with a very simple, easy-to-manage personal website that they can use to post their own news stories, a personal profile, and any information that they see fit online.

In the vast majority of cases, local government officers have ruled this out (no matter how keen the councillors often are) on the grounds that their interpretation of the rules on political communication would mean that doing this would place the council at some unspecified legal risk.

It is often tempting to speculate that this is less about legal probity than about control of information (after all, opposition councillors are under no obligation to echo the positive messages of the ruling group), though often the perceived burden of monitoring councillors’ online activity is held up as a reason not to support councillors in such an activity.

Perhaps more than any other vocational group in the UK, councillors need to be encouraged to interact more effectively than they do. They have few communications or research resources at their disposal. They are usually part-time and they often have little or no experience using even the most basic modern communications tools.

I hope that Hazel Blears looks at more than just the rules though. Local government needs more than just a tinkering with the restrictions, because in local government, such restrictions are often eagerly anticipated and grasped with both hands. The assumption that really needs questioning is the one where the idea that a provision of online help necessarily amounts to the same thing as providing councillors with a political advantage.

If one argues (and I do) that democracy is at it’s most effective when people who are elected are making decisions, and that those decisions should be made without undue pressure from campaigners and lobbyists, one rapidly finds oneself explaining that this doesn’t mean that the public can have no influence on policy in the years between elections.

In summary, if one argues that civil society has a duty to present elected representatives with conversations that are worth eavesdropping upon, then I believe that this deals with this particular objection. Finding ways of helping elected representatives understand the issues that they are deliberating upon is, surely, the democratic role of the media? And – because the media chooses not to do it very well, increasingly, it is a role that is being adapted by ‘new media’ types.

The other day, I pointed to ‘POV-shifting media’ – a good example of an issue being explained and presented properly. Another example of this is the way that issues are being visualised by interface designers. Here’s an excellent post (thanks to MySociety for the tweet) that shows some of the best visualisations of 2008. There are a few there, but the one I’ve illustrated (above) is particularly good, I think?

In this case, it presents information in a way that we can all add value to it by discussing it. My only problem with this one is that I don’t speak Spanish….

The www.blogger.com application is perfect for councillors wishing to trial weblogs for the first time

I’ve promised to help a few Councillors from Welwyn and Hatfield Borough Council start their own blogs. I already manage a project that is intended to get as many of them as possible to manage a small personal website.

Anyway, here are the five aspiring bloggers. All have made a start, but you will see that – in most cases – they need a bit of coaxing.

Hatfield West – Kim Morris
Peartree – Louise Lotz
Handside – Fiona Thomson
Panshanger – Roger Trigg
Welwyn West – Cllr Mandy Perkins

At least one of these councillors should be able to take this idea to the next level and really develop their status and skills as a local representative. Perhaps all of them will do it?

I know that they would all welcome any advice and encouragement that you would like to give them. It is easy to overestimate how apparent the advantages of blogging are – and how easy it is to pick up. In my experience, I’ve met a large number of great local representatives – hard-working, articulate and confident in their roles – who were quite stumped by the idea of blogging. Read the rest of this entry »