" One vote per email address". That's unequivocal then? There lays the problem.As a local volunteer since the lockdown and still at it, there are a very great many people, many in quite nice residential areas, council tax paying residents who are not online or do not have 'safe' internet access or are not fully able with using this method of communication. Some are, rather surprisingly, also not too great on the phone either.It may be a raft of reasons some from forms of disability or ailment (Arthritic fingers, shaky hands and Smartphones are not good bedfellows.)But they are almost all ostracised from any sort of communication and thus denied their right for any input. It's a lot of people, more than I imagined or would have expected.But these people are as much the community as anyone else.The thousands that turned out on not one but two marches were not your usual demonstrator regulars. They were real local residents and as many elderly as there were young parents, and all stops between. The only other time that has happened was the march against the Tram proposal which was littered with deficiencies in it's design and TfL and Ealing Councils staunch refusal to address those issues. The difference then and now is the Tram issue came along it was properly publicised, informed and reported properly in the local press. Good enough to get a clear picture, but also enough for pertinent questions to be asked. It was that degree of access that revealed flaws and issues that were really a costly bridge too far for too many reasons.We don't have that now and Councils and authorities are deft at using what now exists to control and avoid clear and precise information. There is almost no clear means of getting enough information to make any sort of poignant observation, opinion or objection.Just getting basic verifiable information on even minor issues is now almost impossible and even experienced journalists will tell you how difficult it has become to check and cross check anything. It is all controlled and we have blindly let that happen. When authorities don't listen to residents and display such arrogance or contempt, sooner or later when it's so wrong, people, ordinary people, not those with active political will react.The political answer? Try divide and rule. Soft soap to the more gullible, overly using social media but careful to take advantage of the many who are locked out of any involvement by making everything online only and harder to access any other means.
Raymond Havelock ● 367d