30th Sep 2008
Blogging Councillors
The press made a bit of a story out of the SDLP’s newest member on Belfast City Council having the temerity to express an opinion in public. Cllr Niall Kelly gave his assessment of the SDLP’s recent electoral performance in Fermanagh on his blog, The Belfast Stoop.
What a wonderful breath of fresh air. A young, energetic councillor expressing himself intelligently and coherently on his own blog. I am not going to pass judgement on whether it was wise of him to speak so frankly about the internal organisational challenges facing his party, but in general terms I do want to congratulate him for trying to open politics up and encourage discussion beyond those who turn up for party meetings and even beyond party members. Blogs like his are a fantastic way for ordinary people to get involved in political debate. They are a direct route to the voters for any good public representative and should be encouraged and supported.
Northern politics has for too long been the stuff of ‘high level talks’ and ’secret meetings’. O’Conall St stands square firm behind anyone looking to shake off the cobwebs of inner circles and caucuses.
In the States Barack Obama is revolutionising politics by bringing ordinary people into his campaign. He encourages discussion and debate in public. At this is not just true of politics. Some of the most creative and successful companies in the world are open houses for opinion. Google and Microsoft actively encourages their employees to blog and discuss the issues of the day and in their industry in a responsible way. Indeed Weber Shandwick is no different and so I am here writing these words along many other colleagues - bloggers around the world.
Young Cllr Kelly is one of the first of a new breed of Irish politicians to get this.
I’ve never seen a case that transparency was a problem! So hopefully politics is coming to this point.