Comments on: Northgate byelection

By: Skuds

Skuds — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:29:15 +0000

I didn’t know that. Having seen their leaflets I assumed he lived in Northgate because of all that stress on ‘the only local candidate’. Very misleading. I suspect Geraint has been ‘local’ for longer than the Tory has been alive.

There is, of course, no requirement for a candidate to live in the ward they represent, and plenty of very good councillors haven’t.

All things being equal I would prefer a councillor who lives in the area, but I would rather have a good councillor who lived elsewhere than a crappy local one.

By: Skuds

Skuds — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 00:24:46 +0000

I don’t think you can avoid a certain amount of negative campaigning in any circumstances. Not least for the circular argument that everyone does it because everyone else is doing it.

Even with the best intentions you can’t set out your policies without comparing them to the opponents’ policies.

I’ll admit that I have happily knocked on doors for candidates I didn’t rate too highly, but its good to be out there for somebody who you really do want to get behind.

By: skud's sister

skud's sister — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:55:48 +0000

I do admire the positivity of campaigning ‘for’ someone rather than just ‘against’. One of the reasons that so many people are turned off politics these days perhaps?

By: Ian Irvine

Ian Irvine — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:50:32 +0000

The odd thing about this by-election is that the Tories are pushing their candidate as the ‘only local candidate’. While they don’t go so far as to actually say he lives in Northgate, like the others, he lives elsewhere, in his case, Three Bridges. So on that basis he’s no more ‘local’ than anyone else.
How can ‘local’ be defined, and does it really matter if, like most of the Tories on Crawley Borough Council, a councillor doesn’t live in the ward they represent?