In a world full of crazy politics, would cats do a better job? (And special measures)
Today we are focussing on cats… There is a lovely story on the BBC entitled “Our cat mayor poll had higher turnout than Brexit” about an election for a Mayor cat in Gateshead that had a turnout of 77.3%, higher than the last general election and the Brexit referendum.
This against the backdrop of the prospect of Larry the Cat on the brink of seeing his 7th Prime Minister since taking up residence in Downing Street in 2011.
I have also had a number of people ask how my cat, Chairman Meow, is doing. He is very happily ensconced in our new home, although he is being driven around the twist by a pair of fat, juicy magpies who lives in a tree in the garden who keeps on taunting him and he is just too slow to catch them. (He is however, up-to-date on his rent that he has paid with three delicious mice he brought in and laid at my feet).
But back to Mayor Cat (I’m keeping this news from Chairman Meow as we don’t want him getting ideas above his already elevated station). The convenor of this election, Hayley Hawkins said: "Division seems to be in fashion at the moment and it is very easy to feel powerless in the face of it, but I knew I needed to do something, no matter how small, to bring a bit of silliness and togetherness into our community."
I can’t agree more with this. We have witnessed a set of elections that has opened up so many fault lines in our electoral system and as the new Planning Committees met for the first time in the month of June, we have seen some real challenges. There was even one committee who admitted that they are all new and they can’t possibly make decisions as they don’t understand planning. (At least they were honest).
We also saw a record, nine Councils being put into special measures on Monday 15 June. This is not a common occurrence… Councils have been put into special measures before, but it has been used very sparingly. This is the Government really flexing its muscle and making examples of what will happen to Councils if they don’t help deliver the flag-ship government policies – they will strip away ALL your powers to determine planning applications. It is also worth noting that all five the main parties are involved in the administrations of these nine Councils. From what I understand these nine councils may only be the “first batch”.
If you mix this in with the very unhappy councillors up-and-down the country about the proposed National Scheme of delegation that will strip away many of their powers, one can see how the feeling of powerlessness could easily boil over into anger.
So, at this stage, I feel compelled to suggest that Chairman Meow becomes Minister Meow in charge of Planning. He probably will come down harder on non-performing councils (I do get shouted at if his dinner is not with him by 7.30) but at least he will also bring silliness and a smile.
Look out for our Makersfield update tomorrow.
Henry