And so to this:
Consider this from 2007:
An excerpt from that post:
Hang on a minute - why would a government need to spend "£45,000 to run the jury", muliplied by however many Citizen Panels there are [by page 10 of Google, they're still being listed]? Why the expense?
The illusion of legitimacy.
Now look at the whole mechanism. There is a group of approved citizens who, for a start, have been raised above the common throng to oversee local government policy, traditionally the preserve of councils. But councils are corrupt, incompetent, in thrall to paymasters and political parties, aren't they?
So The Select Body of Citizens feels it's doing important work and that government will listen to their recommendations. Hell, isn't that what we're all going on about - government listening? And they do listen - to the decision the facilitator is able to get out of the forum.
The leader poses questions, people respond, the recalcitrant or obstinate objector is bypassed and the decision is arrived at. Any trained teacher could tell you about this technique and as a former Head, I was on my guard against it - the others are tacitly encouraged, by raised eyebrow or other non-verbal expression, to either approve or disapprove and always there is the desire to please by the honoured citizen who, don't forget, has already been preselected.
But what if the citizen selection process didn't completely work, what if someone has the temerity to ask: "What is your legitimacy?"
The illusion of legitimacy.
Now look at the whole mechanism. There is a group of approved citizens who, for a start, have been raised above the common throng to oversee local government policy, traditionally the preserve of councils. But councils are corrupt, incompetent, in thrall to paymasters and political parties, aren't they?
So The Select Body of Citizens feels it's doing important work and that government will listen to their recommendations. Hell, isn't that what we're all going on about - government listening? And they do listen - to the decision the facilitator is able to get out of the forum.
The leader poses questions, people respond, the recalcitrant or obstinate objector is bypassed and the decision is arrived at. Any trained teacher could tell you about this technique and as a former Head, I was on my guard against it - the others are tacitly encouraged, by raised eyebrow or other non-verbal expression, to either approve or disapprove and always there is the desire to please by the honoured citizen who, don't forget, has already been preselected.
But what if the citizen selection process didn't completely work, what if someone has the temerity to ask: "What is your legitimacy?"
Direct “democracy”? Bollox.
Didn't SiKer Sturmer say some time not so long ago while at one of the Davos get-togethers, that he would rather have the Davos demons in charge rather than MPs in Parliament?
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes, I believe that the Common Purpose, Julia Middleton mantra of Leading Beyond Authority (i.e. doing things you are not authorised or paid to do) is alive and kicking in local authorities. Otherwise would they be conspiring to introduce things like Net Zero policies and 15 minute cities much faster than even the demons in Westminster and Whitehall have planned?