Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
There were some intriguing results on Friday morning, but I’m really looking forward to seeing the exact breakdown of the vote, candidate by candidate, and just how the STV system worked.
The first and smallest surprise was the failure of the “anti-windfarm” campaign to make any inroads. Many of the most vociferous advocates of the potential benefits of windfarms did extremely well, whilst in every area (except Ness to Barvas) the antis were invisible. Even in Ness and Barvas, they most vocal opponents did very badly.
Secondly, and more worryingly, the average age of the elected members has continued to increase. I think that only three Councillors are under 50, and none are under 40. This is a huge change from four and eight years ago, and can be directly attributed to the voting system which demands more time to canvass a large electorate and is going to lead to a new breed of professional politician along side the retirees.
Someone (who shall remain nameless) somewhat crudely described the potential candidates as the “unemployed and the unemployable”, which is a gross slander on those who are managing to combine a career and being a Councillor; but has a lovely ring to it.
Update 8/5/07: The above was unnecessarily harsh and inaccurate. The comments were actually about the wider list of candidates. Mea culpa, so I'll let my error remain as an admission of error.
The first and smallest surprise was the failure of the “anti-windfarm” campaign to make any inroads. Many of the most vociferous advocates of the potential benefits of windfarms did extremely well, whilst in every area (except Ness to Barvas) the antis were invisible. Even in Ness and Barvas, they most vocal opponents did very badly.
Secondly, and more worryingly, the average age of the elected members has continued to increase. I think that only three Councillors are under 50, and none are under 40. This is a huge change from four and eight years ago, and can be directly attributed to the voting system which demands more time to canvass a large electorate and is going to lead to a new breed of professional politician along side the retirees.
Someone (who shall remain nameless) somewhat crudely described the potential candidates as the “unemployed and the unemployable”, which is a gross slander on those who are managing to combine a career and being a Councillor; but has a lovely ring to it.
Update 8/5/07: The above was unnecessarily harsh and inaccurate. The comments were actually about the wider list of candidates. Mea culpa, so I'll let my error remain as an admission of error.
2 comments:
A question for you of concern. How many of the elected councillors are IT literate?
Will they use IT sensibly e.g. video conferencing, finding quality information. Will they be able to reply to emails from their constituents? And will they appreciate the importance of a modern broadband system to the islands economy?
John
I suspect about 50% could be considered IT literate, that is to say they can use Word and Outlook.
How many use it as a principal tool for staying in contact with their constituents and for keeping abreast of relevant issues? Perhaps 3 or 4.
How many use Broadband in a business context and understand it's importance? I'd say 3 or 4, but no the same subset as above.
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