Bread & Circuses

(This letter appeared in the Morley Observer on Friday 8th April, surrounded by some particularly pompous examples of that which I am decrying)

Letter to the Editor

A few months back, the Morley Mayor circulated a magazine article to all Town Councillors on the topic of effective communication. One point made was that using the local paper letters column as a base for personal attacks and rubbishing the opposition was counterproductive. I am bemused that some of my colleagues (of all parties and none) have not yet recognised this somewhat obvious conclusion.

The article also suggested setting up an online diary (known as a “Blog”) as another means of being more accessible to constituents, something I tried as an experiment during my election campaign and have since restarted. It is useful as a means of expressing opinion & encouraging discussion without the constraints of editorial space.

Now that the General Election silly season is upon us, no doubt this letter is surrounded by others trying to score partisan political points through unsavoury methods, a practice I feel reflects badly on both the individual and their Party.

I have blogged on the topic of how revealing it would be if letter writers making political (and/or religious) points were required by Editors to declare their personal and prejudicial interests along with their opinions. Here are mine:

Political affiliation: None
Political inclination: Moderate Libertarian/classical liberal
Religious Affiliation: None
Morality system: Christian common law values in an agnostic context.


Cllr Ian Grey
Morley Town Council