Money for nothing? (or worse?)

Hands up anyone who enjoys political propaganda so much that they think they should be charged for it?

...

?

What? Where is the crowd of happy punters throwing their cash around with gleeful abandon?

OK, before the men in white coats come along I'd better explain what I'm getting at.

During last night's Community Government Task and Finish Group at the council I was astonished to hear the argument being made that the taxpayer should actually pay for councillors to have websites through which they can air their views, make political points and generally tell the world how wonderful they are.

Now I can see the case for councillors maintaining websites (or better yet blogs!) and even for these being linked to from the council website with a suitable disclaimer but why on earth should we pay to hear from our elected representatives?

Readers will know how critical I am of the established party system and of the way in which politicians "communicate" with their constituents or prospective constituents around election time. Imagine actually being charged for such drivel!

Any person who takes themselves seriously as a politician should be able to broadcast their activity and views through means such as blogs without burdening the taxpayer. But even accepting the idea that the council should pay for websites they must be policed in such a way to stop them being abused.

The disgraceful Labour MP Paul Flynn has just demonstrated why there is a need to police taxpayer funded communication.

Now we are in a recession it is more important than ever to be careful with taxpayers' money. If we are looking for savings this should be one of the first.

In the meantime what is wrong with free blogging of the sort practised by myself, David Clifford and Brian Parker?