Dundee City Council, indeed most political bodies, has public relations departments or council officers who answer questions that should be answered by councillors.
Some councillors are happy to put their faces to good news stories but disappear into the PR mists when a difficult question arises.
Then the question isn’t answered at all by these PR guardians. Or the fudged response is entirely unsatisfactory.
Anyone interested in truth, no matter which party they support, should regard this PR stranglehold as intolerable.
It is Orwellian doublethink. Your council is paying an expensive PR department, with your money, to ensure your councillors don’t answer your questions.
The situation around Dundee’s Olympia swimming pool debacle is a prime example.
Dundee councillors are being judged on Olympia silence
There are too many unanswered questions around this.
The council’s PR department handed down just a short statement in response to one of the last stories I read: “It would be inappropriate to comment on questions surrounding legal liability in this matter.”
Why is it inappropriate?
Is a legal case pending? Is this a police matter?
A broad outline can be given without divulging sensitive details. There is no legal reason I know of that stops a council divulging if it is preparing, or is engaged in, a legal process.
This goes above party politics. No matter who you voted for, as a Dundonian don’t you want truth?
Why won’t the council hold a public inquiry? When were problems identified? Who was to blame?
To speak directly to Dundee City councillors: this is making you seem ridiculous.
Too many of you look like dummies, sitting there doing nothing, saying nothing, thinking nothing. Accepting whatever pap is fed to you and nodding along.
You look like you’re hiding. Come out from behind the PR department shield. Tell us your thoughts, your questions, what you know about this.
Speak for your people. Your loyalty is to the city, not your cronies, not your party, not council officers. You should tell the PR automatons what to say, not the other way about.
You are being judged on your silence.
Why aren’t Dundee citizens angrier about Olympia costs?
I issue a challenge directly to Dundee City Council’s PR department: if council members can’t talk about legal matters pertaining to the Olympia – tell us why.
John Alexander has been accused of trying to hide the real reasons for Olympia Dundee’s long-term closure. https://t.co/XYvKtM8yrw
— Evening Telegraph (@Evening_Tele) December 13, 2022
And let councillors have their say. They are grown-ups who take responsibility for their own actions and decisions, aren’t they? Are they permitted to have opinions or are they not?
If liberty means anything at all it is the right to question authority. So I challenge Dundee citizens: why aren’t you angrier?
The Olympia repair bill is £6 million. That’s £88.23 for each of the 68,004 dwellings paying council tax in Dundee.
Write to your councillor. Ask why it is “inappropriate to comment on questions surrounding legal liability”.
Let me know how they respond.
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