Helicopter Jim in a tailspin on blogging

It's impossible to say for certain, but there are reckoned to be more than 100 million bloggers worldwide.
Certainly in the space of just one minute this morning, 628 new blog posts were made (source: Gary's Social Media Count)
It's a figure that's either very significant or totally unimportant, depending on your view.
"So many bloggers is a sign of a healthy community that is ever-seeking to share information and opinion."
"So many bloggers is a sign of millions of sad sacks who have nothing better to do with their time - and who cares about their opinions anyway."
Take your pick.
What does surprise us is the way that blogging has galvanised Boston Borough Council.
One councillor began blogging and then stopped because he was subjected to an irrelevant official complaint. We had hoped he might start again, but sadly this does not appear to be the case.
The Dear Leader began blogging briefly but stopped because of the controversy of whether his blog was a personal one or a party one, plus issues over whether it should be produced using staff time and effort.
The jury is still out on that one, but somehow, like the Terminator, we reckon the Leader will be back.
The latest debate over blogging came at Monday's full council meeting, when Bypass Independent Councillor Jim Blaylock launched an attack on Conservative Councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire's often controversial blog.
Councillor Blaylock launched a question at the Mayor, Councillor Maureen Dennis, asking if she supported the use of personal blogs by members - and what should the council do to ensure they are factually accurate and do not break either the Council’s Constitution or the Members Code of Conduct?
Silly question.
Firstly blogs are personal, so whether they have mayoral support or not is immaterial, and it would be a severe breach of individuals' freedom to try to tell them what they might or might not say.
Councillor Blaylock seems particularly exercised by the fact that Councillor Singleton-McGuire published an e-mail from a member of the public concerning a cabinet decision relating to the Geoff Moulder Pool controversy.
But his argument goes askew when he appear to suggest that this is breaking council rules because the information appeared in confidential documents.
The "leak" appears to have come from a member of the public in a widely circulated e-mail, and therefore the blame cannot be laid at Councillor Singleton-McGuire's door.
What he was doing was questioning a situation where he, as a councillor discovers what is going on in the council from an outside source who puts it into the public domain.
As all the discussion around the pool issue was carried out in a borough cabinet meeting, and as these meetings are exclusively attended by the Bypass Independents, any leak to a third party must surely have only come from one direction.
Ironically, in his biography on the council's website, Councillor Blaylock declares:- "by 'opening up' the council to the public in order to allow a greater understanding of how it actually works and how the decision making process operates, I hope to be able to encourage members of the public from all age groups to enter into public debate."
Presumably that excludes blogging ... unless the BBI controls it.

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