JAMES CAMPBELL reveals his on-line
Since around Mid-March I've
been occupied mainly with a Hartlepool political group called Putting
Hartlepool First (PHF).
I call them a political group
because they do seem to be a little confused about what they are themselves
despite having been around in some form or other since 2012.
What initially attracted my
attention was that they described themselves as a group of independents who're
opposed to the way the town is being run but recognise that the way the party
political system was used in the town restricted the ability of a true
independent from being able to influence change. They even say that they have no whip to
enforce policy or a party line and members are able to vote however their
conscience tells them to. I liked this train of thought because one of my core
beliefs is that elected representatives acting in the interests of their party
often runs contra to the interests of the people they represent.
My first contact with PHF was
via their Facebook page and resulted in a series of frustrating debates where
posts and questions that challenged the views of PHF were regularly deleted and
on some occasions people who had done nothing more than ask a question were
blocked from the site too.
The full details of this is
here: http://wp.me/p2BV0e-8q
My last Facebook interaction
with PHF was to post that blog on their page where it was deleted within 8
minutes and I was blocked within 10 minutes.
