30 April (Part 2) - For Erith & Thamesmead, it may be off…
I’m not sure to what extent the average man in the street has been aware of
the party election campaigns across Bexley’s three constituencies. Only two have resulted in a knock on my door. One was by
councillor Danny Hackett on behalf of Teresa Pearce and the other was
Anna Firth on behalf of herself.
But I am no longer a typical voter because all the main candidates know who I
am, where I live and the existence of Bexley is Bonkers. This may result in more
than the usual number of visits because they hope to influence me or maybe it
works the other way around. They won’t want to waste their time with someone who
has been trying to keep a close eye on them and may already know more than they
would wish. The end result is that, for the first time ever, I remain a floating voter.
For the benefit of anyone in a similar
floating position I have put as many leaflets on
line as I have been able to find. Seven more were added to
the Leaflet Index
today and for the first time the
British National Party and the
Lib Dems make an appearance.
Not as good as speaking to the candidates face to face of course which is why I
was very much in favour of organising
a hustings when one was first suggested
for my constituency on 21st April. I even offered to pay any expenses involved.
However, at the time, I was feeling more unwell than I
ever remember being before and when no one took up the offer I was content to
let the matter drop. Someone who I know only through Twitter as @ErithLink took on the job but
over the past 24 hours things seem to have become a little difficult. In recent years and in
other nearby constituencies, vicars have been appointed chairmen but a Sunday
evening date tends to rule that out.
My
guess from reading his Tweets is that @ErithLink is not a huge supporter of
anyone but he chose to appoint Eliot Smith as chairman. That’s when things really
did take a turn for the worse
Eliot has taken a leading role in Anna Firth’s election campaign, even
to the extent of being featured in her leaflets.
Maybe I am naive but I can’t see how a chairman can easily contrive to be biased when
all he has to do is randomly pick questioners from the audience and limit each
speaker to the same amount of time but I concede that if your next five years
may be dependent on a fair debate one might not be so laid back about it. There
have been objections to Eliot’s appointment.
Quite where you get a truly independent chairman from I do not know. Surely if
someone is interested enough to do the job, and do it well, he or she is bound
to have his own political opinions.
So maybe the Erith & Thamesmead hustings are off and maybe they are not. Watch this space.
Where else do you look for election news? The newspapers? The Kentish Times
certainly won’t help to make up your mind.
In
the same article the newspaper said that that Teresa Pearce was not likely to lose and
Anna Firth was on course to win.
Is the News Shopper any better?
Their new feature on the E&T election was quite interesting and helped me
to firm up my opinions of the two biggest party’s candidates but the Bexleyheath
and Crayford equivalent was less comprehensive. It said nothing about the UKIP candidate.
Not being a political strategist I am unsure of the wisdom of Chris Attard’s response but he certainly does have my sympathy.
Having read everything I can find about the elections locally I have to agree that the News Shopper has been
more than a little biased against UKIP. Like the rest of the media they have
gone out of their way to uncover trivia and make a mountain from it. Not so much
in the paper edition perhaps, but on Twitter and on-line.
I think journalists are incapable of recognising their own bias. I’ve said before that my daughter is a
journalist for a very much better known organisation than the News Shopper. I
regard her employer’s output as very obviously biased to the left and I see my daughter
in the same light - I blame her mother! But what is amazing is that she will
occasionally complain that her colleagues are all left leaning, as if she was neutral.
I have come to the conclusion that left leaning journalists have no idea how far left
they are and cannot even begin to see the bias which ordinary mortals see. Or
maybe I am the same but severely biased in the other direction.
Good! That rules me out of chairing the Erith & Thamesmead hustings. News of
the latter will appear here ASAP if there are any developments. Meanwhile it is
on but its fate may be hanging by a thread.