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STEVE FINAN: Dundee deserves better than a council full of fearties

"It’s the great Dundee wall of silence."

Is there a wall of silence built by Dundee councillors?
Is there a wall of silence built by Dundee councillors?

A couple of days ago we passed the midway point in the five-year cycle of local council elections.

What might Dundee City Council’s half-term report say?

It would have written across it, in red capitals: DOES NOT COMMUNICATE WELL.

Because the rank and file of the ruling group never give an opinion on big issues.

It’s the great Dundee wall of silence.

The easy stuff, smiling at sports events, simpering “wonderful” at awards ceremonies, they can do that.

They appear to think they are local celebrities whose role is to grin for the cameras and state the obvious.

But there’s more to the job than that.

They have either failed to grasp, or are not permitted to grasp, one of the fundamentals of politics. Something true from the Oval Office to a pupil council: you must be a good communicator.

The AirBnB-staying, Deliveroo-eating, Uber-hailing modern public has been raised on instant communication.

News, reaction, speculation, criticism – served up on the spot.

Staying silent, hiding, not telling voters what they think about the difficult stuff, makes Dundee’s councillors appear slow, tired, and out of touch.

They don’t take part in city life when it should be them setting the agenda and having the biggest opinions.

Are they really Dundee councillors if they have nothing to say about Dundee’s pressing issues?

Olympia’s pools and flumes are to close for three weeks.

Is there a reason why this maintenance couldn’t be done during one of the pool’s many previous closures?

Maybe there is. But did the ruling group’s councillors stride forward to explain, complain, promise to investigate?

No.

Their awkward, bumbling, confused silence on Olympia has become a running joke – it’s an extended impersonation of Mr Bean.

Pick any other big issue – what have they said?

Have they provided leadership on what can go, and what can’t, in the city’s forthcoming budget cuts?

Waste and refuge workers are set to strike in Perth and Kinross, Fife and Stirling
Bin collections in Dundee could be cut. Image: Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

What do they think of equal pay for women employed by the council? Flood defences at the new supercampus? Weirdly low school violence figures?

They have no thoughts, no ideas, no point of view on any contentious subject.

This it isn’t normal. Councillors in other Scottish cities don’t do this.

All I ask is that they publicly address the concerns of the people who voted for them.

Just communicate.

‘Worst councillors Dundee has ever had’

It doesn’t cost money, it isn’t difficult, it’s a perfectly reasonable request.

It doesn’t matter which party you support or what you think of me and my scribbles, surely everyone can see what a poorly performing council this is.

This 2022 lot are the worst the city has ever had.

The two newly-elected members ran away into the secrecy cave too.

To the two of you: what was the point of standing if you get elected then instantly disappear?

What are your thoughts on the big issues you’ve found since taking the job?

Do you think failure to comment is going to get things done? Will ignoring everything achieve change? Is silent invisibility all you are good for?

Dundee deserves better than a council full of fearties.

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