Newham Councillor John Gray (Labour, formerly Liberal Democrat) deserves credit for being the authority’s only blogging elected member. His blog allows us some insight into the inner workings of Newham Council’s administration (albeit in a very limited sense) other than the sanitised and heavily edited Town Hall propaganda that is churned out in the Newham Mag and Newham Recorder editorials. As such, on the rare occasions when he does mention Council/Mayoral decisions, his posts warrant some comment.
Blogging gives a voice to those who have no power and who wish to hold those that do to account. To achieve this bloggers should be allowed the freedom of expression. Sadly for Gray, although he is a champion of free speech, that freedom corresponds to the limits of his own tolerances.
Gray doesn’t like the language I use when I blog about the oddities of some of the Mayor of Newham’s decisions and the ineffectiveness of Newham’s councillors. His view is that I can dish it out but I cannot take it: if someone takes a “pop” at me I rant and sulk. I thought I was just responding.
Gray refers to me as “Big Bad Mikey” and likes to bring up the fact that my hair is cut short. I have responded to this, not because it offends me (as he’d like to believe), but to highlight the not-so-subtle inference he tries to make: big and bad, short hair = skinhead = thug (a term he has used to describe me) = racist.
I’ve written on this blog about the mayor and councillors and I have referred to them as idiots and buffoons. I’ve called councillors lazy. I’ve highlighted where the truth has been bent out of shape and I’ve shown how some councillors get preferential treatment when the mayor dishes out allowances. I leave it to the few souls who take the time to read this blog to draw their own conclusions. And, as I’ve stated before, should anyone highlight what they think is a specific mistake in anything I have written here, I’m more than willing to revisit it to make it clearer or correct it should it be wrong.
In any event, all that addresses how Gray obfuscates to avoid answering questions, so I’ll put some simple questions to him again in the hope they get answered (incidentally, any sitting councillor may answer these questions – in name or anonymously; I’m not fussy as long as we get answers, as long as we get the truth):
Why has the number of scrutiny chairs been cut from six to four during this current term?
How many Mayoral decisions have been the subject of scrutiny since May 2010?
Will the Newham Council/West Ham United Olympic Stadium bid be subject to (public) scrutiny?
What are the benefits of Newham Council investing £40,000,000 into the Olympic Stadium as Newham Councillors understand them?
Councillor Gray, the floor is yours.
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3 comments:
I hear that Gray's outbursts isn't limited to those outside the party- recently he has been having a go at party members who disagree with him.
Article in the Financial Times:
"West Ham United is among 16 parties to have made formal expressions of interest to lease the Olympic stadium post-games, but the future of the £486m venue remains far from certain as the second round of bidding starts
........................"
How is it gray can use crossed out sexual swear words on his blog but you get slagged off by him for using the word cult in a joking context? He's full of it.
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