Apologies for the clickbait headline but a Councillor has been plying me with
beer all afternoon and I am not good with beer. It’s the best headline I can do right now. I will have to be extra careful with what follows.
Over the years I have made friends with a fair number of Councillors and while
not real friends in the regular close mates sense, I have come to like and respect them all.
In recent days I have chatted
via various channels to most of them and found myself the piggy in the middle of
a group which appears to be less united than used to
be the case. It is an uncomfortable position and in order to isolate one from the
other I have had to tell a few minor fibs. I really do not like that and I’m now
hoping to keep a low profile. However I fear that I am already in the mire for
reasons I cannot fully understand - because I have not been a witness to anything.
I am not unused to awkward messages, the most difficult of which are from whistleblowers
and people who think that Bexley-is-Bonkers is a branch of Bexley Council
and able to right wrongs.
Whistleblowers are next to impossible to deal with. All one can do is salt the
information away and hope it can be used in some discrete manner at a future
date. Charging straight in would likely get somebody the sack. What if the
information comes from one of a small team? Probably they would be able to point
the finger at the man or woman with a conscience.
The other category usually requires a reference to a helpful Councillor. In the
most recent cases Sue Gower (Conservative, Bexleyheath) and Chris Ball (Labour,
Erith) did a sterling job of attending to the issues. Thanks both.
In both cases I got a going over from the resident for breaking confidences. What
else was I supposed to do?
Right! I am away to sober up.