“Glad you asked, kid! …Now listen to this, this is the important part!”
I have no idea why they voice of Timon the meerkat came into my head in response to reading out the question about what elected local councillors do, but if you want to find out the actual important part, head along to the next Trials of Democracy event on Thurs 20th March 2025 at St Pauls on Hills Road in Cambridge from 7pm-8.30pm.
There are more events coming up in early April too
Have a look here – keep an eye out for the Guildhall event on Sat 05th April
Above – from the recent event at Cambridge Central Library
Start organising community and neighbourhood hustings – please
If only because the traditional social media platforms are no longer a suitable place to have interactive conversations with candidates – if the were ever suitable platforms in the first place. Looking at the demographics of the people commenting on this party election video from Labour’s Anna Smith for the Combined Authority election for Cambridgeshire & Peterborough’s Mayor here, I’ve been pondering alternatives to BBC Question Time-style debates and online exchanges.
If we’re going to strengthen our democracy, more of us need to get involved in creating the spaces for activities to happen within
One of the reasons why Chris Rand wrote this guide to organising local public debates back in 2016. I put this suggestion to a group of secondary school students at an event last night with their headteacher also in the room, citing the huge changes being proposed for our city and the lack of youth engagement from the national decision-makers.
“I think we’ve already got some volunteers who would be interested in making that happen”
You could hear the buzz from several of the students when this was pitched to them by their head teacher, so Cambridge politicians, if any schools end up getting in touch with you, please go out of your way to ensure that someone from your party is available to take their questions. (Not least because my generation of teenagers had nothing like this, and yet an invitation from grown-ups would have made such a difference).
Parents and carers – ask your children if they would be interested in helping organise and run an event at their school, and suggest they make the case to their head teachers
Refer them to Chris’s guide on how to organise one, and also ensure that someone from your community provides a write-up of what it was like. If only to try and help make democracy ‘normal’ again.
Above – a trio of recent arrivals including Why Vote? By Jo Phillips and David Seymour (2010) Biteback.
The synopsis reads like it could have been written for the most recent general election.
In the lead-up to a General Election which will be dominated by the issue of trust, this unique guide is the first political book targeted at people who say they aren‘t interested in politics because they no longer believe in politicians. The turn-out in elections since the end of the Second World War plunged from 80 per cent to 60 per cent and is expected to fall even lower in the wake of the scandal of MPs expenses and allowances.
Above – from the synopsis of Why Vote
Democracy is about far more than voting
Which is one of the reasons I’m glad the Trials of Democracy project got approval
Above – from the videoclip by some local ruffians who you may be familiar with!
Which has also made me wonder what a “Sharpe’s soldiering” style video from the 1990s might look like if it were Pyecroft saying: “That’s democracy” after each example of a different action.
Food for thought?
If you are interested in the longer term future of Cambridge, and on what happens at the local democracy meetings where decisions are made, feel free to:
- Follow me on BSky
- Like my Facebook page
- Consider a small donation to help fund my continued research and reporting on local democracy in and around Cambridge.
The Cambridge Town Owl 