These days anyone can talk to everyone for free by blogging or getting some kind of social media account. So far as the latter is concerned, twitter is by far and away the most useful. Celebrities, media junkies, various other extroverts and, of course, politicians make use of these new mediums. Today, I’m focusing on this last category of talkers – those who would seek to govern us. By doing the new technologies, they sidestep established media completely and thus avoid the manner in which these esteemed organs curate the news. Now it is possible to discuss matters directly with the highest policy wonks and pullers of the levers of power.
Every day radio and television news discusses what twitter has been talking about because more Britons are active on twitter (11 million) than buy a daily newspaper (9 million). We are living through the cusp of change. The early adopters seized the new opportunities some time ago, the ready to be convinced were fledgling technocrats by the time of the last general election in the UK and the most reluctant parts of the political world have now grudgingly accepted that they must join in. Yet some still resist. Of the refuseniks, some are probably too stuck in their ways to progress beyond occasional or frequent use of emails, some are frightened of the dragons that await inside the blogosphere and some don’t really want to talk to other people. Some just want the status that comes with their high office and are happy to be guided by their public relations consultants or party spin doctors.
Brighton & Hove City Council is comprised of 54 councillors. Presently, there are 23 Greens, 18 Tories and 13 Labour Party councillors. Our local population is, according to official statistics, very well educated. One-third of them have a degree. We are well known for our vibrant digital economy and when we do buy newspapers, we are frequently given the impression that they are written by people who live here. You might think that in these circumstances, a very high proportion of our local politicians would be active online. There’s no shortage of matters to discuss. Are our politicking brigade leading the discussions? I’ll take each by turn, using the simple but expedient method of a google search to determine whether they blog or use twitter. Of course, this will not establish whether they write something online anonymously but that can hardly be claimed to be assisting the political dialogue.
- Dawn Barnett is a Conservative Party Councillor for Hangleton and Knoll Ward. She does not blog or use twitter.
- Jayne Bennett is a Conservative Party Councillor for Hove Park Ward. She does not blog or use twitter.
- Geoffrey Bowden is a Green Party Councillor for Queen’s Park. He does not blog but he is very active on twitter: @TheSussexSquare
- Vanessa Brown is a Conservative Party Councillor for Hove Park. She does not blog or use twitter.
- Ruth Buckley is a Green Party Councillor for Goldsmid Ward. She does not blog or use twitter.
- Bob Carden is a Labour Party Councillor for North Portslade. He does not blog or use twitter.
- Denise Cobb is a Conservative Party Councillor for Westbourne Ward and is the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. She does not blog or use twitter.
- Graham Cox is a Conservative Party Councillor for Westbourne Ward. For a while he ran two blogs! On 1st May 2012 he abandoned his personal blog because it had been a place where he could “write ‘opinions strictly my own’ type entries on here.” He says he realised that in fact, “there is really no such thing.” After that he has only maintained his official Conservative Party blog. Mr Cox is also very active on twitter: @CoxGraham
- Ian Davey is a Green Party Councillor for St Peter’s & North Laine Ward and is the Chair of the Transport Committee. He does not blog or use twitter.
- Lizzie Dean is a Green Party Councillor for St Peter’s & North Laine Ward and is the Chair of Licensing Committee. She does not blog. She has a twitter account but it has been inactive for more than two years: @LizzieDeaneBton.
- Ben Duncan is a Green Party Councillor for Queen’s Park and is the Chair of Community Safety Forum. He was a very active blogger and tweeter until very recently when he stopped suddenly. The precise reasons for his unexpected silence are closely guarded secrets although they can be easily guessed at, given the heat that his political opponents turned on him for deploying a risqué sense of humour. Being funny is a serious crime in our boring political world. I know exactly how and why he came to quit the online chat (don’t ask – I’m not going to tell you, not yet anyway) and, as with many others, I want him to come back.
- Leigh Farrow is a Labour Party Councillor for Moulsecoomb & Bevendean Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Brian Fitch is a Labour Party Councillor for Hangleton & Knoll Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Matt Follett is a Green Party Councillor for Hanover & Elm Grove Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Penny Gilbey is a Labour Party Councillor for North Portslade Ward. She does not blog but she does tweet frequently: @PortsladePen.
- Les Hamilton is a Labour Party Councillor for South Portslade Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Christopher Hawtree is a Green Party Councillor for Central Hove Ward. He blogs beautifully and has taken to twitter like the proverbial quacking animal does to water but with more eloquence and wit than any political animal and beats many of our celebrity heroes hands down too: @chrishawtree.
- Linda Hyde is a Conservative Party Councillor for Rottingdean Coastal Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Tony Janio is a Conservative Party Councillor for Hangleton & Knoll. He does not blog or tweet.
- Rob Jarrett is a Green Party Councillor for Goldsmid Ward and is the Chair of the Adult Care & Health Committee. He does not blog but he tweets frequently: @RobHove.
- Mike Jones is a Green Party Councillor for Preston Park Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Amy Kennedy is a Green Party Councillor for Preston Park Ward. She does not blog but she does tweet. She is presently recovering from a serious illness – that’s why she is less active than she was formerly on twitter: @AmyK_redux – everyone’s looking forward to her getting well very soon!
- Ania Kitcat is a Green Party Councillor for Regency Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Jason Kitcat hardly needs an introduction of any kind. He is a Green Party Councillor for Regency Ward and Leader of the Council. He is a very active blogger and tweeter: @JasonKitcat.
- Jeane Lepper is a Labour Party Councillor for Hollingdean & Stanmer Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Leo Littman is a Green Party Councillor for Preston Park Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Phelim Mac Cafferty is a Green Party Councillor for Brunswick & Adelaide Ward. He does not blog but he is a very active tweeter: @Phelimmac.
- Jo Marsh is a Labour Party Councillor for Moulsecoomb & Bevendean Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Ann Meadows is a Labour Party Councillor for Moulsecoomb & Bevendean Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Mary Mears is a Conservative Party Councillor for Rottingdean Coastal Ward. She did blog between September 2009 and July 2011 but seems to have abandoned her extensive efforts since then. She does not tweet. Perhaps with no elections in sight, she cannot see the point of it?
- Gill Mitchell is a Labour Party Councillor for East Brighton Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Warren Morgan is a Labour Party Councillor for East Brighton Ward. He does not blog but is a very active tweeter: @warrenmorgan.
- Ann Norman is a Conservative Party Councillor for Withdean Ward. She does not blog. She has a twitter account but as with her husband (below), she does not use it, so as with Ben Duncan, I’m not counting her. There’s only three tweets there, all sent on 18th March of this year, concluding with the statement that for her, “being an effective councillor for my residents and for the city… is a full time job“, by which she presumably means that she hasn’t got time for anything else.
- Ken Norman is a Conservative Party Councillor for Withdean Ward. He does not blog. He has a twitter account but like Ben Duncan and his wife he does not use it, so I’m not counting him either. Like his wife, his account doesn’t reveal much enthusiasm. There are only 7 tweets between February 2009 and today! The first announces who he is, presumably because he doesn’t understand that is what is bio space is for – he’s left that blank. Two and a half years later he updated his job description in another tweet. On the same day he praised David Cameron. Nine months after that he tweeted a single name, enigmatically: “Jason Kitcat” (also on this list). In a rush of activity, five days later he tweeted his wife’s account name, twice. In June of this year, he boasted that he was going to Buckingham Palace. It is fair to say that he doesn’t get it.
- Gary Peltzer Dunn is a Conservative Party Councillor for Wish Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Alex Phillips is a Green Party Councillor for Goldsmid Ward. She does not blog (although she does have a personal, political website for her campaign to become Green Party Deputy Leader). She is so active on twitter that she has had more than one account, moving from one to another as she ups her political ambitions. Currently she is tweeting here: @alexfordeputy.
- Brian Pidgeon is a Conservative Party Councillor for Patcham Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Anne Pissaridou is a Labour Party Councillor for Wish Ward. She does not blog but she tweets frequently: @paulinemable.
- Stephanie Powell is a Green Party Councillor for Queen’s Park Ward. She does not blog or tweet.
- Bill Randall is a Green Party Councillor for Hanover & Elm Grove Ward and is also the Mayor of Brighton & Hove. He does not blog but he is very active on twitter: @BillRandallBHCC.
- Alan Robins is a Labour Party Councillor for South Portslade Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Sven Rufus is a Green Party Councillor for Hollingdean & Stanmer Ward. He has taken to blogging recently and is very active on twitter: @SvenRufus.
- Sue Shanks is a Green Party Councillor for Withdean Ward. She does not blog but she tweets occasionally: @ShanksSue.
- Dee Simson is a Conservative Party Councillor for Withdean Ward. She does not blog but she tweets frequently: @Woodingdean_Dee.
- David Smith is a Conservative Party Councillor for Rottingdean Coastal Ward. He does not blog or tweet.
- Christina Summers is a Green Party Councillor for Hollingdean & Stanmer Ward. She does not blog but she is on twitter: @SummersCM.
- Ollie Sykes is a Green Party Councillor for Brunswick & Adelaide Ward. He doesn’t blog or tweet but he does share an occasionally used twitter account with Phelim Mac Cafferty: @Brunswick_Green.
- Carol Theobald is a Conservative Party Councillor for Patcham Ward. She doesn’t blog or tweet.
- Geoffrey Theobald is a Conservative Party Councillor for Patcham Ward and Leader of the Opposition. He doesn’t blog or tweet.
- Craig Turton is a Labour Party Councillor for East Brighton Ward. He doesn’t blog or tweet.
- Liz Wakefield is a Green Party Councillor for Hanover & Elm Grove Ward. She doesn’t blog but she is very active on twitter: @LizGreenBH.
- Andrew Wealls is a Conservative Party Councillor for Central Hove Ward. He doesn’t blog but he is an infrequent tweeter: @Wealls.
- Geoffrey Wells is a Conservative Party Councillor for Woodingdean Ward. He doesn’t blog or tweet.
- Pete West is a Green Party Councillor for St Peter’s & North Laine Ward. He doesn’t blog or tweet.
19 Councillors out of 54 are engaging directly with the voters by blogging and tweeting – that’s 35%. Is this good enough? How does this compare with other local authorities?
Inevitably more Greens are currently active online – there are more of them on the council. Taken by party, 13 out of the 23 Green Councillors are ‘engaged’ (57%), 3 out of 13 Labour Councillors (23%) and 3 out of 18 Conservative Councillors (17%). Age obviously comes into play, with younger councillors being more likely to adopt the new technologies but that doesn’t explain the situation away altogether.
The Conservative Party seems to acknowledge the issue – it’s website gives the official Conservative Twitter feed as a place to contact all its councillors without their own account, despite this approach defeating the big advantage of twitter: direct, personal contact. The times they are a-changed but the older politicians don’t seem ready to accept modernity just yet.
Very few doubt that within a decade newspapers as we know them will be dead. Lots of our local councillors waste their time by writing to our local rag, a poisonous contribution to politics popularly known as The Evening Anus, even though it only sells approximately 5,000 copies per day and probably half of those to businesses who use it for little more than table space filling. We can have some sympathy with hard working councillors who have allowed their brains to become too stuck in their current methodologies to cope with digital life but we have to ask them, don’t you want young people to vote for you? Don’t you know how people communicate these days? What are you waiting for?
There’s been much fuss in Brighton & Hove lately about whether politicians should be independently minded or not. On close analysis, most sensible commentators agree that we want them to vote for the policies owned by the parties whose platforms they stood on. That need not stop them from expressing themselves freely online, from debating the issues thoroughly, from being available for communication free from party spin doctors. Our national political life is completely tedious because it appears to be dominated by policy wonkers and people who, frankly, you would not want to spend an evening in the pub with. We want real people in charge of our lives. That’s the whole point of democracy.
We know that our politicians will be forced to accept the modern communication systems or lose office. The question is how quickly they will catch up with the rest of us. That is still a challenge for all parties.