Comments for LGiU's local democracy blog

Comment on Should councils be buying Ipads? by Simon Edwards

Simon Edwards — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:12:00 +0000

Rob

You should check out Shropshire who have gone paperless for Cabinet members and some senior staff, have ridden the PR storm and seem to have emerged from the other side. Mike Hyatt at Shropshire is going to talk about this at the next CCN ACCE AG (effectively Corporate Policy types) meeting in April.

Comment on Localism trumps secularism on council prayers by Colin Rosenstiel

Colin Rosenstiel — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:49:00 +0000

I woild disagree with the common interpretation of this decision. Having read Mr Justice Ouseley’s judgement it seems to me that what he actually ruled unlawful was the inclusion of prayers in the agenda of council meetings. They have never been placed on the agenda of my council and the atheists amongst us either absent themselves from the meeting at the start or just stay silent through that brief part of the informalities at the start of meetings. The actual form is regarded as a matter for the current mayor. As a third generation atheist I do have enough respect for the views of the majority not to try to suppress the practice of centuries.

Colin Rosenstiel
City of Cambridge

Comment on Localism trumps secularism on council prayers by David Walker

David Walker — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 20:54:00 +0000

Eric Pickles the saviour of localism – that’s the sort of naivety that explains why local government has secured so little from the present government. You miss the point. It’s not that Bideford Town Council is constrained by ‘minutes, meetings and motions’, it is that its members are older, hide-bound and sufficiently set in their ways to allow the prayers issues to become controversial – and that sociological fact has nothing to do with the evil forces of centralism conspiring to snuff out the bright flame of local enthusiasm. A localist would say – why shouldn’t the Conservative and conservative members of a Devon town council endorse a culture/way of life and exclude as necessary practices they regard as alien. Why should ‘national’ cultural imperatives apply on the Bristol Channel coast? There’s the problem – where do ‘universal’ claims (as embedded in say human rights legislation enacted by national legislatures) stop, when local people might well aspire to say ‘stop the world, I want to get off’. Over to you, pure localists

Comment on C’llr Achievement Awards 2012: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED by Dai

Dai — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:39:00 +0000

i like to say well done to fiona cross on being short listed for the LGIU Community Champion Award. keep all the hard work up

Comment on The year local government takes charge by jasanvil

jasanvil — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Reduced local democracy a good thing?

Comment on C’llr Achievement Awards 2012: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED by Mr avenger

Mr avenger — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:17:00 +0000

You have to laugh at the “impartial” judging for the Lockhart £10 000 bursary (and therefore the only prize worth having!). The judging panel comprised the leaders of Sussex Cambridgeshire and Newcastle as well as the leader of Southwark - resulting in a short-list comprising….Cambridgeshire… Sussex…Newcastle and the two neighbours to Southwark, Westminster and Hammersmith. They clearly slipped up with Kettering! One for Private Eye me thinks!!

Comment on C’llr Achievement Awards 2012: SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED by Randal63

Randal63 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Rania Khan!?! Ha! She’s a very poor example of a councillor indeed. Sadly, she represents my ward and has never, in my experience been able to grasp how a council works so she has no influence.

Comment on Civil Society Innovation Network: event 2 by Today’s links 01/31/2012 « Sarah Hartley

Today’s links 01/31/2012 « Sarah Hartley — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:32:09 +0000

[...] Civil Society Innovation Network: event 2 | LGiU’s local democracy blog [...]

Comment on How we’re changing our member briefings, and why by Richard Everett

Richard Everett — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:05:00 +0000

This page is not formatted in a way that is accessible to users who have impairments eg it is not WCAG2.0 compliant. A good example is the link “follow this link” which fails success criteria 2.4.4 at level A. It is important that these criteria are met to ensure that you are not discriminating against impaired users – presumaly the work you have done building the website has been tested for compliance?

Comment on Payment by Results: The Perfect Storm of Public Sector Finances by Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:06:00 +0000

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Comment on Sutton Council raising the cap on primary class sizes by Howard Knight

Howard Knight — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:01:00 +0000

Given the throw-away line about South Korea, can we assume that you are also commending the fairly rigid national curriculum, allocation of school places by lottery, strictly enforced hair and uniform policies, and the expectation that the vast majority of middle and secondary school children will also go to hagwon (after-school revision centres) until late most evenings (children usually spend more time in hagwon than in school) which are all key features of SK’s education system? [I understand Saturday morning school classes are ending this year - it will allow even more time for hagwon!]

I express no views on the merits or otherwise of these aspects, but we should at least have an understanding of the reasons for some of the outcomes.

Comment on Local Leaders: Cllr Chris Robbins, Waltham Forest Council by Safer Communities

Safer Communities — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:57:00 +0000

If only this was true sounds like a load of hype because how many millions have been spent time and time again with very little to show in the way of results and hard facts, this reeks of window dressing as the local council and the councilors standing proud here do not have a clue. They need to look to strong community leaders to lead on this gangs scheme other wise it’s the same old political rhetoric repackaged and being flogged as gang busting when anyone with sense can see that they are just playing the same old games.

Talk is cheap we all want safer communities but these chaps need to take a reality check.

Comment on Civil Society Innovation Network: event 1, part 2 by Michael Polubinski

Michael Polubinski — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 07:22:00 +0000

I wish the similar actions were possible in Canada. Unfortunately nobody seems to be interested in involving citizens in participation in the political discourse and in decentralization of federal or provincial powers. Those steps may lead to the democratization of society as outlined in
http://whyweneeddemocracy.blogspot.com/2011/12/democracy-for-tomorrow.html

Comment on Payment by Results: The Perfect Storm of Public Sector Finances by Francisco Wilson

Francisco Wilson — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it.Chlamydia Testing Kit

Comment on Eric Pickles to present C’llr Achievement Awards 2012 by Ray Duffill

Ray Duffill — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:44:00 +0000

Hi – The
more details can be found here link is broken!