Politeness in politics is stifling debate
You have to wonder what is happening to politics when a councillor gets suspended from duty for four months for branding town hall officials "Nazis" over unpopular proposals for a town centre?
It is not the most sensible use of language, but does it really warrant a four month suspension?
Read the story about Knowsley council Liberal Democrat Ian Smith's suspension HERE.
He could have used a much more elaborate language to deliver a much more devastating critique. But passions run high over the future of Prescot, and he went too far.
Cllr Smith and the Liberal Democrats, who have four seats out of 63 (Labour hold the rest), are no threat to Labour's control in the borough.
The four month suspension smacks of an attempt to crush debate in a heavy handed way, but when you have little opposition to answer to this is the type of politics you get.
On a wider point I've noticed politeness being forced into local politics which frankly is starting to stiffle debate.
Often that debate, by its very nature, often means people lose their rag or go over the top.
The other day at Liverpool town hall Liberal Democrat Pat Maloney objected to being referred to as Cllr Baloney and that he was being silly.
Really, what kind of politics do we want where the art of the political insult is killed off and politicians are not allowed to step over the mark every now and then?
Oh and what happened to freedom of speech?
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Dale Street Associates
David Bartlett
City editor of the Post and Echo covering politics, regeneration, and urban affairs.
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Councillors don't use the freedom of speech or debate to actually debate. What the engage in is petty point scoring.
The debates in the council, like parliament, are debased by the need of each side to win at all costs rather than to get to the right answer.
It is disgusting. The person called a Nazi, when he heard it, thought kaching, brownie points for me, pats on the back from my party, and suspension for him. He wasn't for the least minute offended.
Councillors don't use the freedom of speech or debate to actually debate. What the engage in is petty point scoring.
The debates in the council, like parliament, are debased by the need of each side to win at all costs rather than to get to the right answer.
It is disgusting. The person called a Nazi, when he heard it, thought kaching, brownie points for me, pats on the back from my party, and suspension for him. He wasn't for the least minute offended.
Council Officers certainly shouldn't be able to bar a democratically elected Councillor. Their actions prove the insult was justified!
Jesus wept! Has my Lib Dem colleagues' frequently observed illiteracy taken root at the Daily Post too. Does no one check things anymore? It's stifling not 'stiffling', from the verb 'to stifle'. Headline & text are wrong, wrong, wrong.