The Last Voice of Dissent?
In an interesting diversion from the norm, the February meeting of Newham Council saw a voice of dissent. Cllr Quintin Peppiatt, the former cabinet member and recently resigned Labour member now sitting as an Independent took to the podium to voice his concerns at a number of issues. It is apparent that the members of the public in attendance were clearly supportive of his contribution, which makes the attempt to remove their voices from the video recording a little bizarre. You can see his contribution at 62 minutes into the meeting.
Time was when the council met in the chamber which had been designed in a horseshoe fashion, long before it became fashionable in European debating chambers. The horseshoe had the benefit of both being economical with space and ensuring that all of those present could see the faces of all others in the room. It facilitated debate which was conducted from the place that members sat.
In the video you will note that councillors are now sat in serried rows with a perfect view of the back of the head of the councillor in front of them. It is hardly a set up to encourage debate. And that is what happens. Instead of debate a line of preprepared statements are read out from a microphone at the front, And by degrees, democracy dies.