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Lisa Harding for Woking
It is not often that I write a post that transcends party political boundaries. This is an exception. I would like to give my official support to Lisa Harding for her campaign to be a local councilor in Woking. Despite my well-known concerns about national policy from all parties, I feel strongly that Lisa deserves support for the following reasons. She is the Liberal Democrat candidate there; it is irrelevant, I believe, that I support Labour at a national level.
I am sure that Lisa is fully equipped to participate in the governance and management of Woking Council. She fully understands and is sympathetic to the views of others, and so I feel very confident she would inform the ultimate policy-makers and carry out a number of vital strategic and corporate management functions to the best of her ability, given a meticulous knowledge of local and national political issues. From her communications on her blog (here), she appears most willing to respond to constituents’ enquiries and representations, fairly and impartially. She appears to keen to involve citizens at an individual level, and she would be excellent at representing the interest of local constituents. And it is an escapable fact, that despite whatever, she works relentlessly had to listen to others.
Lisa has even commented on the outgoing Councillor with respectably sincere words:
On a personal note, I was introduced to politics locally by Rosie Sharpley. Having worked on her campaign in the General Election and getting to know her and her reputation, I was constantly amazed at the amazing regard she was held in by local residents. I learned so much in all of that time, not least of all about the kind of councillor I want to be. If I can be half the councillor Rosie Sharpley was and have as much respect and affection from residents as she did, then I know I am on the right track. She will be much missed but I know that In Amanda and Phillip we have equally determined and amazing councillors who will serve Goldsworth East just as well as Rosie has done for the last 23 years. I will miss her.
Finally, I have no hesitation, judging from Lisa’s activities in Woking, that she would maintain the highest standards of conduct, serve the public interest and take decisions having regard to the interests of the whole local community. I think her sincerity in working hard for the things she believes in, most spectacularly the NHS (for example), will shine through to be a credit for Woking. This is not about the future of the Coalition. We’re stuck with that until 2015, but about electing the right candidate!
If we are serious about left progressive politics, we should appear to mean it.
It is easy to blame the demise of ‘left, progressive politics’ on Nick Clegg. This vehement dislike for Nick Clegg is inadvertently encouraged by the spin and media factories of the Liberal Democrats to argue that a majority of people voted for a Coalition – this is not true, as no-one can vote a priori for a hung parliament (as such). I would argue that people wished to vote anti-Cameron instead, in favour of a left progressive agenda. In fact, the last thing they wanted was a Tory Lite in the form of Nick Clegg – but that’s what they’ve got.
This is what worries me about the future. I am still keen on the growth of left progressive politics. Labour conceded a long time its mistakes on the erosion of civil liberties (e.g. periods of detention in terrorism, ID cards), but needs to be aggressive in demonstrating that it had over a period of centuries a commitment to civil liberties, in fact. The Tories simultaneously argue that there has been an erosion of civil liberties and that the Human Rights Act is too ‘liberal’. The Liberal Democrats strongly indorsed the Human Rights Act (1998) before they got into bed with the Tories for political opportunism; the Tories violently opposed the Act, preferring an unenforceable aspirational Bill of Rights instead.
The future includes aspiring Councillors like Lisa Harding. Here is her website:
http://lisaharding.mycouncillor.org.uk/
There is no doubt about Lisa’s commitment to her Party (the Liberal Democrats), nor indeed to her local constituency.
Indeed, a friend of mine on Facebook wrote as follows,
Really, really interesting that was. Thank you. If all councillors showed this much enthusiasm for the history of the place they are representing we’d all be a darn sight better off. Well done Lisa Harding.
There’ll be a cold day in hell before the Lib Dems ever get a vote from me. But with people like this on their team, they should be very proud. I shalll mail this to Mr Clegg and voice my approval after work 
I will not go as far as to say the Labour Party as a whole should ‘work with’ the Liberal Democrats. After all, we know the rather unpleasant diatribe that Tim Farron and Nick Clegg have produced against Labour’s spending during the world recession. However, I would really like an appreciation that a progressive left agenda can be worked out on human rights. Take for example the disaster that was waiting to happen between the Tories and Lib Dems on control orders. And also – for any chronic patient in the NHS or any parent sending their kid to school in the state sector – such demonisation and vilification of the State won’t be tolerated any longer. The ‘Big Society’ has failed, and there is a reason for that.
'The hashtag in political campaigning' by Fat Councillor
Dear ‘the Left’
Please, please, please save us from your constant hashtag campaigns. We know that you are angry at the actions of the LibCon coalition. We also know that you are just as angry that the LibDems agreed to enter a coalition with the conservatives.
However, in your fury, you seem to be blind to the fact that the electorate rather like the coalition. Their combined polling has consistently outstripped support for the Labour party. Shouting about manifesto commitments has no effect. And, the reason for this, in my view, is that the electorate understood before the election that no political party was telling the truth about the state of the UK’s economy, or what actions would be needed in order to rectify the problem. The cuts argument is lost for the time being.
Cuts bring me to hashtags. I make the presumption that you know what I am referring to, but if not, here is an explanation.
Since the election, we have ‘enjoyed’ a plethora of Twitter hashtag campaigns, such as #savenhsdirect #sackcoulson #saveourforests and #ukuncut. Not one of these campaigns have amounted to anything. The electorate have shrugged their shoulders and said ‘so what?’ The reason is, to my mind, pretty clear.
The electorate (and by that, I mean the great masses of the population who are not politically active) simply do not care. Perhaps that is a harsh conclusion, but you must understand that the electorate currently view everything through the prism of the cuts argument. That argument has been accepted, and to deny that is to doom your campaigns to failure.
The Left need to stop launching campaigns at the drop of a hat. The more campaigns they launch which lead to nothing, the more devalued these campaigns become. I may be wrong, but I get the distinct feeling that the plethora of campaigns are merely cover for activists continued fury at being out of power. Get over your sense of entitlement.
Instead, activists need to bide their time and understand that at some point, perhaps in three or six months, the coalition will do something that the electorate fundamentally disagree with. That will be the time to launch a campaign. And, managed correctly, with a reasoned and reasonable alternative, the campaign can succeed.
But in the meantime, please, please, please save us from your constant hashtag campaigns.
Sincerely
The Fat Councillor
Fat Councillor is regularly on Twitter, and is neither a Fat nor a Councillor
