This blog is mainly about the governance and future of policing and crime services. (Police & Crime Commissioners feature quite a lot.) But there are also posts about the wider justice system. And because I am town councillor and political activist, local & national issues are covered a little, as well.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Imitation, the sincerest form of...

When I say or write something which has come from another source, I always seek to attribute it as accurately and generously as I can. I know I may not always succeed but I am pretty diligent in such matters.

So, it was with interest that I received an email the other day from a former PCC candidate (not Labour Party, I would add) which was fairly sizzling with frustration about how the author's ideas had been appropriated by one of their opposing candidates on their campaign website. The email I received was entitled "Politics: it's a dirty game".

The email went onto say "Maybe his is an original thought. But those paragraphs feel like the pen pics the party asked us to write in the run up to the interviews x weeks ago. I am going to the final primary soon. Should be fun."

Naturally, I will not reveal my sources, especially as the author asked me not to do so. But this does raise for me some pointed questions about the selection campaigns that have happened and the wider public campaigns that are yet to really begin.

> Does politics have to be such a dirty business?
> Will candidates in the forthcoming campaigns be big enough to acknowledge the sources of their ideas, wherever they arose and even if those ideas came from their opposing candidate?
> Whilst the public are said to always be complaining about 'petty politics', they do seem to be influenced by those same grubby tactics when it comes to voting?


How will politics as politics influence these elections?

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