THE VIEW FROM HERETHE lack of a proper opposition within the IW Council chamber shows no sign of improvement. Not much can be done about those councillors already in situ at County Hall but a by-election should surely provide an opportunity for those who want to see a more effective alternative to the present regime.
So what’s happening in next week’s West Wight by-election? Lots of vibrant and diverse candidates queuing up to inject some proper democracy into the Island’s political scene?
Well, er, no. The by-election follows the sad death of Stuart Dyer, one of the few independent representatives to bring any real intelligence and challenge to council proceedings. He might at least have been awarded the tribute of someone stepping up to continue the work he’d put in as a councillor unfettered by political constraints.
But, as there’s no independent candidate on the ballot paper, we can forget that. Not a very edifying legacy for the impartial integrity with which Cllr Dyer looked after the interests of West Wight.
Nor is there a Labour candidate, a sad reflection of the state of socialist politics on the Island.
Labour forms the main opposition to national government. Over here, we have one lone Labour councillor, largely wasting his time in his attempts to thwart the Tories at County Hall.
It all amounts to disenfranchisement for Labour supporters, certainly those in the West Wight.
They may not have a hope of winning but that is not the point. They should at least have a voice at the ballot box.
West Wight can vote LibDem but why bother? The candidate, Mike Carr, is effectively a non-starter, having been deselected after allegations involving a Freemason bank account, and is now persona non grata with both the LibDems (who are feuding about the matter) and the masons (we can only guess at the fall-out in the lodge but it won’t be good).
It was too late to take his name off the ballot paper, so he’ll probably get a few votes, if only because there are just two other candidates and they may not be to everyone’s liking.
Stuart Hutchinson is the Conservative candidate and the most likely winner of this lacklustre contest. If elected, he’ll doubtless do what he’s told at County Hall, another yes-man in a regime which increasingly renders its mouthpieces no more capable of dissent than Stepford wives.
Finally, there’s UKIP’s Rose Lyndon-Bell.
Whenever I write about UKIP, a man called Mike Tarrant gets in a strop, so I’ll keep my counsel on a party publicly described by David Cameron as "a bunch of fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists".
All in all, the West Wight ballot paper adds up to a dire summary of the state of Island politics. Is there nobody competent beyond these token candidates to stand for council? Or is it just apathy that gives us so little choice?
Perhaps the electorate should vote for Mike Carr after all. If he wins but declines to take his seat, there’ll have to be another by-election.
Go on, West Wight, give it a go and then persuade somebody who really might make a difference to Island politics to stand for this dysfunctional council of ours.
11-11-11-11-11-11: It’s the perfect day for geeks
TODAY'S date brings enormous joy to those mathematical geeks who are driven to ecstasy by palindromic numbers. 11-11-11 is rare enough (it won’t occur until the next century) but there’s also the magnificent chance to savour the eleventh second of the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour, when the geek digital display will show it’s 11-11-11-1l-11-11.
Don’t miss it. Oh dear, you already have? Well, just hang on another 100 years and then try again.
I rather like mathematicians, although I have no idea what they’re on about.
Their incomprehensible battiness is certainly more charming than those "accessible" scientists such as that dreadful yawnmeister, Brian Cox, who thinks if he mucks around with sand and talks in an oop-north accent, we’ll all be interested in particle physics. Fat chance, matey.
Prof Aziz Inan is much more entertaining. He loves quirky dates and got his students to make "palindrome triangle hats", decorated with last week’s date of 11.02.2011. OK, you have to do it the American way for it to work but it’s still better than Brian Cox.
I’m afraid by the time I found out about that particular date, it was over and I’ll be well dead before anything similar comes round again.
But I’m prepared for today. Naturally I’m wearing my palindrome triangle hat and very nice it looks, too.