My hat was thrown out....

More from my scratchy pen in this week's print Herald Express....I have often thought that a local council meeting is rather like a private members club that is open to the public. The gymnastics of those elected members in a meeting offer a range of confused emotion to any casual onlooker.

There was a time when I thought I might join that eclectic band of residents brave enough to pick up the sticky stick that is local politics. I did throw my hat in the ring many years ago, only to find it thrown out again!

Occasionally, I do attend council meetings, although these days I watch proceedings online. As a ‘people watcher’ I find the range of body language and sometimes reckless rhetoric quite fascinating.

Local politics is dominated by the main political parties and therefore the level of nastiness can be quite unsettling. Although I do see our elected councillors as members of a ‘private’ club, there is little evidence of unity.

Calling in an outside mediator to untangle the web of words that divide is depressing, wasteful and unnecessarily expensive. Regardless of the outcome, the emotional scars will inevitably run deep.

Watching a group trample over good ideas rather than admitting they have been suggested by the oppositions brings tears to my eyes.

I remember an old lecturer, years ago, standing on a plant he could not identify rather than admitting that he did not know what it was. It saddened me at the time, and watching councillors do the same thing at meetings confirms that little has changed.

For a little while, not so long ago, I did help people with conflict resolution. My work was mostly business related, but occasionally it included conflict within the wider community. Sometimes, when watching council meetings, I can pick out the trigger words; the words that cause, or deepen conflict.

Sadly, there are those among us who relish in sucking the joy from others. J K Rowling, in her Harry Potter books, talks about Dementors. Dementors are, apparently, mythical spirits with evil intent.

I did become addicted to Rowling’s books, but that addiction faded as more and more books were published and the plot became darker. ??

This life of ours is difficult enough as it is without unpleasant people sucking the joy out of the day! Watching elected members biting chunks out of each other rather saddens me.

The behaviour of our political masters in London does not set a very good example. The weekly Prime Minister’s Question Time offers a Punch and Judy view of politics as the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition go head-to-head in the House of Commons.

Such exchanges can be very amusing, but unfortunately too often deflect from quite serious matters.

Freud spoke about the fact that humour can be used to hide a truth. I can confirm that since I regularly use humour to hide a personal weakness or unwillingness to engage!

I would like to offer a better way for local council meetings, but rather suspect that little will change. The private club concept does rather dominate and so we will doubtless trundle on in the same old way.

Does that matter? Probably not, and so we journey on doing our best to keep the smile.