Day of Shame for Sheffield City Council (Lydgate)

[Carynne 10]

Originally posted by "maxt"

 

Judging by what u say it looks like a fine example of councillors extremely confident of their position in that they will never be voted out by the electorate. They have been (as a Party) in power too long. It can happen to any party which is in power too long. Power corrupts etc...

 

You think 13 months is too long for a party to be in power? What do you suggest a week at a time?

 

Might the problem be the councillors, and the attitude they have towards the people they rule (oops... should they be serve) rather than the parties? We need a system that allows a lot more independents to become involved. I recently attended a council meeting, and the infantile unintelligent attitudes displayed were depressing to say the least. Granted the Lib Dems didn't have enough of a chance to do much good (or bad), and perhaps they were infected with the same "stuff-you" approach.

[Chris 10]

Originally posted by "Carynne"

 

Judging by what u say it looks like a fine example of councillors extremely confident of their position in that they will never be voted out by the electorate. They have been (as a Party) in power too long. It can happen to any party which is in power too long. Power corrupts etc...

 

You think 13 months is too long for a party to be in power? What do you suggest a week at a time?

 

Might the problem be the councillors, and the attitude they have towards the people they rule (oops... should they be serve) rather than the parties? We need a system that allows a lot more independents to become involved. I recently attended a council meeting, and the infantile unintelligent attitudes displayed were depressing to say the least. Granted the Lib Dems didn't have enough of a chance to do much good (or bad), and perhaps they were infected with the same "stuff-you" approach.

 

I agree that we need to have a system that encourages independents as party politics corrupts what would otherwise be meaningful and democratic assemblies in our town halls. Councillors are elected to represent different areas of Sheffield, but their voting reflects the fact that they merely represent one or other party. Only independent candidates can be truly representative of the wishes of the people they are there for.

 

And on Carynne's post about how long Labour have been in power - Labour are acting as though they've never been out of power (with the exception of now having someone else to blame their mistakes on). They're still the same people as they were three years ago so any meaningful reform that could have taken place had they been out longer hasn't had the chance to happen.

[chrisb 10]

Chris apparently can't accept that the people of Sheffield trusted Labour with full 'power' again, having seen thru the Lib Dems, because they could already see the result of the new attitudes & policies. It's called democracy - unfortunate for those who don't like the result. Fortunately it doesn't take everyone over 3 years to learn from their mistakes - just the Lib Dems apparently.

[max 13]

More independent councillors sounds like a nice idea but in reality leads to nothing getting done. If each councillor is only looking out for their own constituents then the likelihood of achieving consensus on any issue is negligible. With party politics, a manifesto is presented to the electorate as a whole and a party is elected based on this and judged on it throughout the year.

 

As was seen this year the electorate of Sheffield saw fit to trust Labour with full power. Whether or not this happens next year when there is a full election of all 84 councillors remains to be seen.

 

Judging on the strength of views expressed on this and other threads one or two contributors will be standing as independents. Alternatively, can I suggest that if you feel strongly enough about something join a main stream party which most closley reflects your views and work to change the system from within?

[Mo 10]

Originally posted by "maxt"

 

More independent councillors sounds like a nice idea but in reality leads to nothing getting done. If each councillor is only looking out for their own constituents then the likelihood of achieving consensus on any issue is negligible. With party politics, a manifesto is presented to the electorate as a whole and a party is elected based on this and judged on it throughout the year.

 

Judging on the strength of views expressed on this and other threads one or two contributors will be standing as independents. Alternatively, can I suggest that if you feel strongly enough about something join a main stream party which most closley reflects your views and work to change the system from within?

 

 

Sorry maxt but I thought that was why we elected councillors so that they could look after our interests as constituents. I know that if I have a spineless councillor who doesn't or won't speak up for my area then that area will get sod all.

 

 

Been there done that. I was a member of a mainstrean party for 25 years and believe me that party is dictated to from the top. If you think that it can be changed then you are living in cloud cuckoo land. All oppostion is squashed one way or another usually by arranging a deselection or marginalisation.

 

I have banged on enough on this forum about candidates standing as Independents many times. I stood at the last election and was within 41 votes of taking the seat (had I taken some from the established councillor). Believe me Independents are gaining seats everywhere because people are pig sick of their interests being put AFTER the interests of party politics.

[Chris 10]

Originally posted by "chrisb"

 

Chris apparently can't accept that the people of Sheffield trusted Labour with full 'power' again, having seen thru the Lib Dems, because they could already see the result of the new attitudes & policies. It's called democracy - unfortunate for those who don't like the result. Fortunately it doesn't take everyone over 3 years to learn from their mistakes - just the Lib Dems apparently.

 

Erm - you're not doing the concept of party-based councillors any good there! When council dealings are as transparent as treacle it's difficult to say who is to blame for what, hence I'm well aware the Lib Dems are not necessarily any better or worse than Labour. This leaves me, and most of the population, with little to go on when voting for our councillors though - the sniping that goes on within the local press and the self-congratulatory party fliers (the two most visible forms of party 'advertising') are hardly helpful.

 

As it is, if I'm going to make a decision based on anything, I'm likely to take as a starting point the fact that Labour councils have had decades in power - if they're so capable of sorting the city's problems then why didn't they do it eons ago? Given no strong feelings either way I'm prepared to vote for change to see what happens - but it would be helpful to see that change stay in place over a long enough period of time to make useful judgements on whether it was worth doing. Given such a dearth of information many people will vote against change, though, for fear that it'll make their lives worse, and bearing in mind the miserable state a lot of Sheffield is already in that's not surprising.

[Guest Amazed14]

Originally posted by "Chris"

 

I'm likely to take as a starting point the fact that Labour councils have had decades in power - if they're so capable of sorting the city's problems then why didn't they do it eons ago? Given no strong feelings either way I'm prepared to vote for change to see what happens - but it would be helpful to see that change stay in place over a long enough period of time to make useful judgements on whether it was worth doing. Given such a dearth of information many people will vote against change, though, for fear that it'll make their lives worse, and bearing in mind the miserable state a lot of Sheffield is already in that's not surprising.

 

The problem is that the Liberal Democrats have now disappeared completely into the woodwork. They need to be seen to be out there fighting for people. They were very vocal about the injustice done to the Children at Lydgate before the election, but where are they now the lazy sods?

[SheffieldLady3 10]

Originally posted by "Amazed14"

 

 

The problem is that the Liberal Democrats have now disappeared completely into the woodwork. They need to be seen to be out there fighting for people. They were very vocal about the injustice done to the Children at Lydgate before the election, but where are they now the lazy sods?

 

They have. The Lib Dems are shameful opportunists. Real people with real problems get stuck between petty politicians. The Lib Dems caused this problem in the first place, Labour failed to carry out councils recommended solution to the problem and lied to parents. The Lib Dems then came in as the big saviours, lost the election, and have now disappeared.

[LabHonesty 10]

Good luck to all those parents out their with your appeals today and tomorrow - the truth always wins! (well usually).

[Carynne 10]

Well, after hearing 2 days of evidence the appeal board agreed wholehearted that what happened to these parents was plain wrong wrong wrong. There were no mitigating factors.

 

Some very serious questions now need to be asked about how this could ever have happened in the first place. We also need to ask some serious questions about the honesty of local government in Sheffield. How did it come to pass that all labour councillors were railroaded into voting against a motion that was so obviously just and moral, without any evident understanding of the facts? What are councillors for? We need a lot more independent (and moral) voices in local government, and a lot less of what we have at the moment.

[Bugsy12 10]

Originally posted by Carynne

Well, after hearing 2 days of evidence the appeal board agreed wholehearted that what happened to these parents was plain wrong wrong wrong. There were no mitigating factors.

 

Some very serious questions now need to be asked about how this could ever have happened in the first place. We also need to ask some serious questions about the honesty of local government in Sheffield. How did it come to pass that all labour councillors were railroaded into voting against a motion that was so obviously just and moral, without any evident understanding of the facts? What are councillors for? We need a lot more independent (and moral) voices in local government, and a lot less of what we have at the moment.

 

You should stand at the next local election. I'm sure if a lot more independents stood, campaigned on some real issues, and worked hard, they would get elected. A lot of people are fed up with politicians lying through their teeth.

 

Bugsy

[halevan 11]

The council is the whipping boy for the electorate.