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Murdoch: at the Olympics | 100 comments (100 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Channeling Graeber (4.00 / 2)
It depends on the representative.

This village - well, this pair of villages - has a parish council. We also have quite a few people who work from home and need good broadband - which we do not yet have, and have no current prospects of same.

When I suggested to the council we look into this, because there's no lack of interest, I was told 'Excellent idea! We'll form a committee at the next meeting.'

That was months ago. Oddly enough, nothing has happened since. (And unfortunately I haven't been here for most of that time to chase things up.)

So representation only works when you have people with an interest in getting things done representing you. When you have people who think decisions can only be made by going through Proper Channels™ you're onto a loser.

And when you have people who become representatives purely for career reasons, things work even less well.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 07:12:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Channeling Graeber (4.00 / 2)
Post script - however, the Parish council put a lot of effort into making sure the ancient Norman church had a new roof.

It's not as if it's used much, and could probably have limped along for another few decades without a replacement.

But because this is middle/upper class England that kind of thing matters, while trivia like broadband and a stable electricity supply (ours isn't particularly) don't.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Tue Aug 7th, 2012 at 07:15:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Murdoch: at the Olympics | 100 comments (100 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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