Mr Perrin’s blog.
“A Word in Your Ear”.
At the first meeting of Full Council, since the local election on 22nd May, 2014, Cllr John Kent, Leader of the Council, took it upon himself to offer some advice to the seven newly elected councillors, six of them being members of UKIP.
The first piece of advice he offered was: “Always remember the importance of being there for your constituents. How false and insincere those words must be to the residents of the South Ockendon ward who for the past three years, have been saddled with an absentee councillor, namely Cllr Aaron Kiely, and will have to suffer this sham of a councillor for a further 12 months. Cllr Kiely, making a rare appearance in the Council Chamber, was unashamedly sitting just a few feet away from Cllr John Kent. In the light of Cllr Kent’s words and the smugness and contempt Mr Kiely has displayed over the past three years his presence was an affront to those Councillors who take their responsibilities seriously and work tirelessly for their constituents.
The second piece of advice Cllr Kent offered was the need to develop a “thick skin” and “Avoid dwelling on some of the half- truths and distortions you may see in the media and at all costs avoid reading the comments that are posted on web sites”. Why so Cllr? As the saying goes “sometimes the truth hurts” and it seems some Councillors and MPs get very upset by truths and hard facts.
I offer Mr Kent a piece of advice. If you read the comments you are so dismissive of and took serious account of what people are saying then you would be more in touch with the problems and expectations of the people you are elected to serve and maybe serve them better.
The irony being that the reason Cllr Kent may have advised new councillors to ‘develop a thick skin’ is probably in part due to online blog comments such as this accusing them of falseness and insincerity, which leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. An unpleasant tone.
Kent is a public servant that takes tens of thousands of pounds in public money to represent the people of Thurrock. Represent meaning represent their views, aspirations and concerns. So his advice to other public servants and representatives is to ignore at all costs what members of the public might think, expressed through the comments sections of local media.
A recent social attitudes report might suggest to the comrade that it is this attitude that has led to a disconnect between the public and those that have the delusion that they govern us in any way that reflects what the public want.
Perhaps the comrade should be reminded who pays his allowances and expenses. Now the comrade has been re-elected though, he can say what he likes about the public for another year. His contempt isn’t surprising.
Does this also mean that the comrade won’t be dishing it out in the media any more, expecting the public to listen to his points scoring and childish attacks on central government whilst in full Labour amnesia mode expecting the public to believe that the world began in May 2010.
The man is a hypocrite and treats the public with contempt. It’s all about him, not the people of Thurrock.
Steven
Well said, my sentiment’s entirely.
I’m sure Kent and other members of the Labour party would like everything to be done through a nice, touchy feely focus group, where the audience can be selected, the questions vetted, the discussion controlled and the outcome a foregone conclusion. Then they can go to the media and declare that they’ve held a full and frank discussion with the public and the public agree with them.
The Labour party have been a party of control freaks since Blair took it over. If they can’t control the debate, then the debate should be closed down, usually by using the media to do their bidding. He’s not only a hypocrite,he’s insulting to people’s intelligence.
A Very rare occasion. I agree with Novoice on one point.
“Labour party have been a party of control freaks since Blair took it over.”
Blair killed the old Labour party and now we have New Labour or as I call them Tories Lite.
Another Mr Perrin blog that I agree with…
Steven/NoVoice has summed up my thoughts exactly.
I just hope the UKIP councillors stick up for Thurrock and their views don’t bend in the wind like the other two.