DUMBARTON NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
Politicians are now subject to a level of hostility that would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
Some receive an “army” of callers ringing them through the night with threats and abuse.
Others describe being unable to walk down the High Street, or even shop in their local supermarkets without intimidation.
The sense of threat has caused others to install door bell cameras and panic buttons at their homes
Female politicians speak of threats of rape and acid attacks; candidates from migrant backgrounds are routinely told to “go back where you came from”.
I have seen some disgraceful attacks on social media on our own MSP, Dame Jackie Baillie.
Councillors have been spat upon while canvassing. These are not isolated episodes.
Recent research by a media regulator found that local election candidates were subject to abuse or threats online.
The effect is chilling candidates into installing private security, altering personal routines, or leaving politics altogether.
Many avoid speaking on contentious issues such as immigration, gender and housing for fear of the backlash. The two subjects they avoid most here are abortion and nuclear weapons. Abortion because they fear they might lose “the Catholic vote” and nuclear weapons because so many of the electorate are employed at Faslane. When intimidation distorts debate, democracy is weakened.
When debate is banned, as West Dunbartonshire Council has done with The Dumbarton Democrat, democracy goes out the window.
Scotland is not unique. In Europe, threats against mayors and councillors have prompted tougher penalties for online intimidation. In France, security was reinforced around MPs after assaults during protests over pensions.
The EU’s Digital Services Act, obliges platforms to remove illegal content quickly and to be more transparent about how harmful material spreads.
These measures reflect a European-wide recognition that political intimidation has become an urgent democratic challenge.
The response here is puzzling. Police investigate, but prosecutions are rare. Social media platforms are still slow to enforce their own rules.
But political culture also matters. When activists, commentators or elected representatives indulge in personalised invective, mocking or vilifying opponents, they legitimise a politics of contempt.
That creates fertile ground for the kind of violent rhetoric now directed at politicians and their families.
Responsibility rests not only with the far right or anonymous trolls but with everyone who participates in political discourse.
Protecting politicians from intimidation is not about insulating them from criticism. Scrutiny, accountability and argument are the lifeblood of a free society.
We in the media have an adversarial relationship with power – that’s as it should be. Politicians receive strong criticism day and daily, that’s part of the political “game” which can be hard to take at times. It’s not an area of life for the faint-hearted.
But when the price of service is fear for one’s safety or family, when ordinary canvassing leads to assault, or when public representatives cannot socialise in their own communities, something fundamental has been lost.
Our democracy depends on more than institutions; it depends on the willingness of citizens to uphold a culture of civility, even in fierce disagreement.
The threats now faced by politicians are an attack not just on them, but on the democratic life we all share.
Meeting that challenge will require determination from Government and local authorities such as West Dunbartonshire Council, regulation and decisive action from social media companies, and restraint from those who too easily resort to personal attack.
@@@@
Driving to Helensburgh down the A814 last week I noticed that the under fire Council still hadn’t cut much if any of the grass and weeds in public spaces in Dumbarton’s deprived West End.
Driving back, I observed that the grass had been cut in the gardens at the front of the Municipal Buildings, where our councillors have their private offices.
They used to fly the Palestinian flag there. If the Council were to do that again could we expect a dawn raid from the police?
The newly cut grass had been left strewn across the lawns, however. Perhaps the Council haven’t heard the old saying that if a thing’s worth doing, it is worth doing well.
@@@@
Anyone been down the Quay recently? The building site for Glencairn House to become a library and museum gets ever bigger and even more spread out by the day, which makes it almost impossible to find a parking place. The design of the “add on” to Dumbarton’s oldest building is horrendous, by the way, another waste of public funds. Around a crazy £10 million.
Local motorists have responded to the shambles by parking illegally on the pavement in the High Street, outside the Halifax appears to be a favourite spot for them. Are there no police on duty there anymore – or parking wardens? Even the “yellow peril” appears to have fled the scene.
One very serious point about what’s going on is that an ever lengthening queue of disabled people are waiting for Blue Badges which would allow them to park legally next to services that are essential to them – banks and even West Dunbartonshire Council offices in Church Street.
Time the council staff who process these applications got with it, is it not?
@@@@
The “golden goodbyes” scandal in Glasgow is everywhere in the newspaper and television news.
But we seem to have forgotten when the same thing was happening in Dumbarton where the police said even they were shocked at the way these things were handled in Church Street.
We got the “nothing to see here, move on” answer from the police, who hndled the investigation..
Remember the fine dining and champagne and golf matches on the rolling fairways of Cameron House Hotel, and some of Glasgow best restaurants. They tell me The Citizen was really nice. Double helpings even?
Given that it’s all out of the bag in Glasgow and all other councils are being told by the Auditor General not to let it happen again, West Dunbartonshire Council appears to have got away with it. Hopefully not.
That whole episode should be resurrected now and the police called in again. West Dunbartonshire Council redacted [blanked out] sections of the documents relating to it and covered the whole thing up. A whole bundle of receipts submitted to Community councillor Jim Bollan were disregard and HE was sanctioned for raising the matter.
Time the police sent in their Fraud Squad and the forensic boys and girls again to have another look at what shocked them earlier.
And for WDC to be open and transparent at last.
You never know what might happen. Dumbarton Sheriff Court is only a few yards away from the Council headquarters.