Yet below you will see a screenshot of Wirral Council advertising on this blog taken today with is a screenshot from my iPad.
Obviously this raises an interesting question that Wirral Council see us as a media organisation they can advertise with, but are not able to see us as a media organisation for the purposes of elections.
There is a screenshot below of my iPad to show what I mean. The advert is at the top.
Wirral Council advert blog
Of course if Wirral Council wants to stop advertising for whatever reason, they only have to ask me and I will make sure their adverts don’t display in future!
But I just thought I’d file this in Wirral Council wanting to have their cake and eat it.
I could write another email to Kevin but I fear this is getting embarrassing (for Wirral Council that is)!
What were the most read stories on this blog for each month in 2016?
What were the most read stories on this blog for each month in 2016?
Councillor Steve Foulkes (Labour) (right) features in one of the stories
As we’re approaching the end of the year, I thought it would be useful to look back and see the posts that were most read on this blog each month from January 2016 to November 2016, along with some comments of my own.
The recently elected Cllr Kelly called in the Cabinet decision to consult on changes to the bin collections. So did the Conservatives, however Labour made sure that the consultation went ahead.
And then it became November’s most read story too.
So the themes of stories most read for 2016 were Hoylake Golf Resort, a pay off to a former senior manager, gagging, elections, secret public meetings, bins, Lyndale School, a planning application refused for a Tesco supermarket and election expenses.
Who knows what will happen in 2017?
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What were top 7 most viewed articles and top 7 most viewed videos for May 2016?
Power
Well just over a month has passed since polling day the election for a Merseyside PCC and local councillors on the Wirral and on the 23rd June 2016 there will be a referendum about membership of the EU.
As I’ll be at Wirral Council’s Cabinet meeting on Monday morning, instead I thought I’d look back at the most read stories of last month (May 2016) and some of the most watched videos. Both are in order of most viewed (so the top number 1 slot was the one that attracted the most interest).
Since I wrote this story question marks have also been raised about the election of two further Wirral councillors not referred to by name in the article, which leads to unanswered questions about over a quarter of the 23 councillors elected. If all six elections had been (or are in the next 2 years) declared null and void*, no political party would have a majority on Wirral Council.
*Highly unlikely considering how this country works or doesn’t work and I’d like to point out that councillors/candidates are innocent until proven guilty and that trial by media doesn’t count.
What is the Willy Wonka metaphor for the election of 23 Wirral councillors?
Willy Wonka as played by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but who is Willy Wonka in this metaphor for Wirral’s election?
I’m going to use a rather strange metaphor to describe the last set of Wirral Council elections, which may seem odd to start with.
It’s a scene from the film version (called Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Sadly I couldn’t find an HD version that includes the part before they enter the tunnel and just after as the lower quality versions don’t have the same impact. This is from the 1971 version (I’m showing my years now), not the 2005 remake with Johnny Depp.
The background to the scene (apologies here if you are familiar with the book or film for telling you what you already know) is that each of the children have won a golden ticket to tour Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory accompanied by one family member. All of them, along with Willy Wonka at the head of the boat are travelling in a paddle boat paddled by some Oompa-Loompas down a river of chocolate.
Just as at the start of every election everything seems rosy and wonderful and things are going to get better, then the boat enters the tunnel.
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The tunnel scene from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Inside the tunnel, people on the boat are scared and frightened by the scenes that are displayed on the wall of the tunnel and some want the journey to stop. I might point out that people in an election vote for irrational reasons, which is why fear (of what’ll happen if they vote for the “wrong” candidate or party) works so well.
Some of the people on the boat think Willy Wonka played by Gene Wilder has lost the plot and don’t know how to react to what he says (or sings).
The boat abruptly stops at the end (the end of the election in this metaphor) and they find everything is back to normal and they are outside the Invention Room.
So (as all Roald Dahl stories have hidden meanings), I look forward to people’s interesting comments identifying who the people in this metaphor represent and what I truly mean!
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![Willy Wonka as played by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory [1971], but who is Willy Wonka in this metaphor for Wirral's election?](http://johnbrace.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Willy-Wonka-as-played-by-Gene-Wilder-in-Willy-Wonka-and-the-Chocolate-Factory-min.jpg)