{"id":5344,"date":"2017-05-01T15:22:15","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T15:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=5344"},"modified":"2017-05-03T14:27:48","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T14:27:48","slug":"south-somerset-goes-to-the-polls-on-thursday-4th-may-yawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/?p=5344","title":{"rendered":"South Somerset goes to the polls on Thursday 4th May. (Yawn)."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Election Time. Don\u2019t vote and you\u2019ll get the councillor you deserve.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Local elections are always overshadowed by a general election, and Teresa May\u2019s snap election on June 8th<\/sup> will inevitably mean that Thursday May 4th<\/sup>\u2019s County Council and District Council elections will attract a low turnout for some fairly unimpressive candidates.<\/p>\n

All have fought a dismal, low key, flaccid campaign. Actually \u201cfought\u201d is a wild overstatement. It hasn\u2019t even been a skirmish.<\/p>\n

First, the County Council election.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Incumbent William Wallace<\/strong> is defending a 745 majority for the Conservatives against UKIP, which came second last time round. The result will be interesting, since UKIP is not putting up a candidate. Will he take the UKIP vote, or will they go elsewhere?<\/p>\n

The choice is not very exciting, as far as we can see from any of the candidates\u2019 public profiles. Your editor had to ferret about for these on the internet, since NONE of the candidates have bothered to communicate with the electorate, not even through simple leaflets, websites or facebook pages.<\/p>\n

\"\"
BVM: South Somerset not mentioned – and 2 candidates missing in the print version<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even the Blackmore Vale Magazine missed out two of the candidates in their pre-election coverage.<\/p>\n

So we will have to judge them by what they say about themselves (which is very little) on Facebook and other websites<\/p>\n

The Candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oliver DOWDING,<\/strong> Green Party.
\nA farmer for 40 years \u00a0and the Green Party\u2019s agricultural spokesman. Lives in Shepton Montague. His farming seems to be mainly grass and arable, so he will have plenty of time for council work. He will need it, as he is standing in both elections, just like 2 of the other candidates, so he can trouser two sets of allowances and expenses. Nice work
\nhttp:\/\/www.farmingmonthly.co.uk\/business\/appointments\/10413-oliver-dowding-announced-as-green-partys-agriculture-spokesman\/
\n<\/a>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/oliver.dowding<\/a><\/p>\n

Sara DYKE \u00a0<\/strong>Liberal Democrat
\nCurrently the South Somerset District Councillor for Milborne Port, who ousted previous incumbent Lucy Wallace, wife of the aforementioned William, in last year\u2019s election by just 1 vote.\u00a0 Her other job is working for an EU-funded grant-making body designed to bribe taxpayers with their own money, and which seems mired in bureaucracy. A third salary from the public purse will come in handy. Not much on her Facebook page unless you like tattoos.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sarah.dykebracher<\/a><\/p>\n

William WALLACE<\/strong> Conservative
\nIs the incumbent Conservative County Councillor and also one of the District Council\u2019s Conservative Councillors. He sits on the Cabinet of SCC. Despite his implausibly young photograph in the Blackmore Vale Magazine, he claims to have lived in the area for 30 years. No policy statement, but at least you can talk to him in the pub from time to time.<\/p>\n

No Facebook, and only one sentence on the Conservatives\u2019 website.<\/p>\n

\"\"
It’s all been hidden!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michael YIANNI<\/strong>, Labour Party
\nHe claims that by voting Labour you won\u2019t be voting for more cuts in council services, but instead voting to improve and strengthen our communities. Back to bribing us with our own money then.<\/p>\n

He also believes in social justice, but don\u2019t we all?<\/p>\n

His Facebook page has been completely redacted. You have to be a friend before you can see it. We wonder what he\u2019s hiding?<\/p>\n

http:\/\/somersetlabour.co.uk\/candidates\/michael-yianni\/
\n<\/a>https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/michael.yianni.9<\/a><\/p>\n

Winterborne Longjohns betting odds
\n<\/strong>Wallace 3\/1, \u00a0Dowding, 4\/1 Dyke 9\/2, Yianni 100-1<\/p>\n

South Somerset District Council By Election<\/strong><\/p>\n

This election is to find a replacement for the much-respected and badly-missed Tim Inglefield, who died tragically on 27th<\/sup> February. Your editor was approached to stand and allowed his name to go forward, only to be turned down by the selection committee. Much to his relief, and, we suspect, that of the community at large.<\/p>\n

The candidates<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grahame BAKER<\/strong>\u00a0Liberal Democrat.
\nGrahame\u2019s Facebook profile demonstrates he has a beard, is a Liberal Democrat and not much else.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bakerbeardy<\/a><\/p>\n

Hayward BURT<\/strong> Conservative.
\nHayward went to Sexey\u2019s School and was at least born in Horsington. It appears he once stood in Stroud, but came second. That\u2019s all we know. Oh, and he lives in Templecombe.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hayward.burt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Oliver DOWDING \u00a0Green Party<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another aspirant \u201cdouble hatter\u201d, as they are known. Actually he seems like a decent bloke, but the tendency of \u00a0councillors to try and grab extra allowances by sitting on two councils is not welcome, leads to conflicts of interest and is the best argument we know for a single local authority for Somerset.<\/p>\n

Most voters (and we suspect many of the councillors) are completely confused about which authority does what. Local services are \u00a0mainly dictated by central Government policy anyway. The poor local authorities have to put up with it and pretend to be important.<\/p>\n

Winterborne Longjohns betting odds:
\n<\/strong>Burt 2\/1, Baker 7\/2, Dowding 4\/1
\nVerdict<\/strong>: A bit like a 3-horse race on a deserted wet Thursday at Wincanton Races. \u00a0Keep your money in your pocket.<\/p>\n

BUT DO VOTE! PLEASE!<\/p>\n

If the candidates wish to post anything, we will happily accommodate them – There are 2 days to go and everything to play for – Ed<\/em><\/p>\n

William Wallace responds<\/a><\/p>\n

Oliver Dowding responds<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Election Time. Don\u2019t vote and you\u2019ll get the councillor you deserve. Local elections are always overshadowed by a general election, and Teresa May\u2019s snap election on June 8th will inevitably mean that Thursday May 4th\u2019s County Council and District Council elections will attract a low turnout for some fairly unimpressive candidates. All have fought … Continue reading “South Somerset goes to the polls on Thursday 4th May. (Yawn).”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2757],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6glYD-1oc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5344"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5373,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5344\/revisions\/5373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/horsington.blog2.idnet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}