Mayor apologises to elderly woman after 'humiliating' meeting (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Mayor apologises to elderly woman after 'humiliating' meeting
1:30pm Thursday 30th September 2010 in News
THE MAYOR of Swindon has publicly apologised to an elderly woman who said she was ‘humiliated’ after being repeatedly interrupted at a council meeting last week.
Mary Ratcliffe, 85, of Croft Road, had gone to the meeting to speak out on how important libraries were and urge the council not to touch them in its cutbacks.
But when she stood up to speak the mayor, Coun Rex Barnett, interrupted her saying she was only allowed to ask questions not make statements. Mrs Ratcliffe, who worked on codebreaking machines at an outstation of Bletchley Park during the Second World War, has since written to the leader of the council to complain.
She described the meeting as ‘absolutely horrendous’ and ‘painful to witness’.
The Adver reported on Friday how members of the public were kept waiting for more than two hours at Thursday night’s meeting before they were given a chance to speak.
The leader of the council, Coun Rod Bluh, stood up towards the end of the meeting to apologise for the way it had gone.
But Mrs Ratcliffe, a member of the National Campaign for Courtesy, added that she was also appalled at the manner in which the councillors treated each other.
“It was an incredible time [working near Bletchley Park] and the camaraderie was something I couldn’t begin to describe,” she said.
“Perhaps that’s why I was so upset on Thursday night, because I thought ‘What is our society coming to?’ Coun Barnett apologised to Mrs Ratcliffe but said that section of the meeting was really only for members of the public to ask questions.
He said: “I can only apologise to her if she felt unfairly treated but I think actually I do read out that it is for questions only.”
He said councillors did sometimes speak aggressively towards each other but it was only because there were important issues at stake. But Coun Bluh said he had telephoned Mrs Ratcliffe the following day to apologise again and would reply to her letter too.
“It was very unfortunate and did nothing to enhance the council’s reputation,” he said.
“All members need to think very carefully about the part they played in it and we must make sure that in future we show our best side and not our worst side.”
Comments(6)
reality_check
says...
10:04pm Thu 30 Sep 10
Terence wrote:True. However, well done to Mrs Ratcliffe for exposing our pathetic councillors for what they are; a rag-tag bunch of out of touch, egotistical incompetents incapable of behaving with even basic courtesy to the very people who fund them. They're pathetc and an embarrassment and we all know it.
"Mrs Ratcliffe, who worked on codebreaking machines at an outstation of Bletchley Park during the Second World War" - Alien observers would believe that some pensioners in this country did some work during the war but nothing else for the rest of their lives... except, of course, bringing up this wartime role in every argument, no matter how irrelevant, as some kind of trump card. . Poor behaviour from the councillors but I think Mrs Ratcliffe was a little naive if she expected a local political meeting, with all the egos in attendance, to be like a wartime operation that would have had a unique spirit.
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Mrs Ratcliffe may well be a quaint throwback to a bygone era, but the idiots in town halls up and down the country could learn a lot from her and her generation.
Grimwald
says...
10:14pm Thu 30 Sep 10
Perhaps we should get some more £50,000 consultants in to train the mayor how to behave in a public forum. God help us we need it!!
Chrisg46
says...
10:20pm Thu 30 Sep 10
itsamess
says...
6:12am Fri 1 Oct 10
Not really that easy to get rid of them. Lets face it there are many of our senior Councillors-leaders-
ex leaders-deputy leaders who have overseen some of the biggests errors in our history as people vote them in--despite the fact they clearly are in it to raise their incomes or get on boards they are not suited to--hence Council matters are least on their minds. I do wonder how people vote them in. By party--or common sense-or lack of it. Blame yourselves for the arrogance we see.
Mr Blackwell
says...
2:02pm Fri 1 Oct 10
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Check out this latest little gem:
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http://is.gd/fEdst
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Man gets a restraining order made against him four years ago banning him from contacting a woman. Man contacts woman, pleads guilty to it and yet not only does the judge pass a conditional discharge sentence (ie, no punishment whatsoever), he then farcically goes out of his way to say, “Hopefully you have now got the message that she will not expect any uninvited contact with you in future.”
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Er, you didn't punish the man for breaking the restraining order... so why on earth would he now not want to do so again? You've just demonstrated that won't be a problem and nothing will happen to him.
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Seriously, why aren't Adver reporters looking into the sentencing that's going on in the Swindon courts? Even a half-competent investigative reporter should easily be able to uncover what's happening and get some of these judges removed from post.
Terence says...
3:20pm Thu 30 Sep 10
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Poor behaviour from the councillors but I think Mrs Ratcliffe was a little naive if she expected a local political meeting, with all the egos in attendance, to be like a wartime operation that would have had a unique spirit.