Unsure beginnings

The temptation for me to start a blog waxes and wanes. Often I come to the realisation that trying to fit something else into the day may be the 'straw', this worry combined with a general sense of; why would anyone read it, will I remember to update it, how will I keep a focus on my ward of Westcotes rather than straying into a more general blog on life and politics in Leicester, the national agenda or my hectic but very enjoyable home life?

In the end I've decided to try and stop worrying quite so much and just see what happens! If this is one of the blogs that gets occasional random posts and very rarely updated I'll apologise now!

So I've said why the idea wanes but not so much of why it waxes. A tempting new way of communicating with people? An opportunity to commit to paper (well metaphorically) the successes and challenges of being a local Councillor for Westcotes? A chance to put longer and more complex issues on record than is possible in a leaflet? These are key. There is a more over-riding reason though.

Fairly often I get told I'm not a 'normal politician'. Depending on who says this I am in turns pleased and furious! For local Councillors there isn't (and should never be) any such thing. If we are all the same, think the same, dress the same, approach a problem in the same way - this is when politicians fail. We fail to understand and appreciate difference, we stop relating to people and letting them relate to us and we fail to tackle problems in innovative ways. Crucially we also fail to engage people in how important politics is and how exciting playing a part in it can be.

There are local elections in Leicester next year and I'm spending a lot of my time talking to people who may consider standing. This blog will (hopefully) be one of the ways of de-mystifying what we do, not sugar coating nor over-egging, and how life fits in around it with varying degrees of success!

So I suppose the over-riding idea of this blog is to show there's no such thing as normal!