Voters told: Blog off!

You're not welcome here

Yesterday we heard of the rebuff to members of the Boston North West Action Group who - before they have even renewed a request for an order to control drinking in public – have been told that they are wasting their time.
The decision was first announced in the Boston Bypass Independents’ blog, followed by a letter in a local newspaper.
The campaign is championed by the area’s county councillor, Andrea Jenkyns - and a dedicated website exists to promote it.
Unfortunately, the site appears to have lain dormant almost since it was created – and this brings us to the wider issue of internet communication between councillors and their electorate.
Well over a year ago, we were delighted to praise the establishment of a number of blogs by local councillors – but sadly, instead of their appearance being a spur to others, the reverse has been the case.
One blogger, Conservative Myles Larrington, was driven to cease publication by the actions of a serial complainer.
Another blog, by BNP/Independent borough councillor David Owens, last saw an entry on Monday 10th May, noting the result of his performance at the general election.
Blog entries by Conservative county and district councillor Raymond Singleton-McGuire have gone from being an almost daily affair to appearing intermittently.
The BBI has two websites, one of which is years out of date, and the other merely an outlet for the occasional political rant.
Councillor Jenkyns, meanwhile,  has  two websites and a blogsite.
What appears to be the primary website may well leave a visitor confused – as it is unclear whether it's a musical equivalent of The Spectator or a political equivalent of The Stage ....
Certainly it has more of a showbiz flavour than a political one, with its album of photos of Miss Jenkyns cosying up to the likes of John Major, David Cameron, Ken Clark (sic) and Eric Pickles.
But the blog is the most mysterious thing of all, in that it appears to be run as if it were a private club. Although voters are invited “To keep upto (sic) date please visit my news blog,” the picture below shows what greets them.

Yes, to join Miss Jenkyns’s glee club you apparently have to be vetted and approved.
And even if you offer up your name and password details ...  that’s still not enough, as you then get this message.

Does this mean that Labour supporters are not admitted? What about local voters who simply want to keep “upto” date with what their councillor is doing? Well, they can just go away. We suspect that the reason for this public access ban is to avoid any possible criticism – but it is also terribly “old Tory” and we would have hoped for better from a young, aspiring councillor.
All along, the issue of blogs and websites run by local politicians has sat uneasily with their authorities.
Boston banned links from its website for a while, and then selectively re-introduced them.
The County Council used to publish website/blog links but now does not.
Frankly, it scarcely seems to matter when you look at most of what’s now on offer - and more importantly the number of councillors who choose not to communicate at all. It's almost as though the councillors have no interest in the voters.
Surely not!

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