I meant no insult in my posting: there are very good councillors without an O level to their names!! Having a doctorate is laudable but academic. It's not education per se that counts, but intelligence and application. The ed and dev to which I referred was intended to mean relevant ed and dev such as business skills, economics, PR and presentation - and please don't let's pretend that's not needed!! And I know there are already people in place with those skills, they are just an example. It is perfectly possible to suggest improvements without "doing an injustice" to serving councillors. It becomes difficult to respond or reach out openly to people when the first, default, response to suggestions and constructive critisism is insult or hostile defenciveness.
But the most important thing here is that we continue to make appropriate demands of the elected reps and are not put off by hostility or ignorance. I have already posted on another thread the difference an approach makes to the voting people - I am on the way to changing my voting habits solely because of someones courtesy and response. It makes all the difference!!
