Plymouth councillors walk out of meeting in webcast coverage row

“get rid of them all, and I hope they didn't claim expenses over their petty gesture”

“Now here's a good idea... why dont they stay permanently walked out, seriously... there are 20 wards in Plymouth, we have 57 councillors, we could comfortably get rid of 37 and just have 20 councillors (one per ward).

There you go Plymouth City Council, I have just saved you £600,000 in allowances and expenses, that should help your cash strapped budget ??????”

“This just shows the lack of understanding on why we didn't fully support the webcasting. Firstly we had no actuall costings when the decisions was made and wanted to know how we could afford it when we are trying to make saving and Secondly we were worried about abuse, guess what it is being abused.”

“Parliament is televised and MP's have to be careful of what they say, regardless of privilege, so in a democracy should these people not be as accountable. They like the rest of us, should have to engage their brains before the speak or are we beneath them.
This is clearly not fit for purpose if they cannot live in a free and democratic society. Get rid of the lot and start again. The trouble in Plymouth is that regardless of the party the same leaders come around time and again and nothing ever moves on.
Is it any wonder that Exeter is moving forwards and Plymouth back”

“It's time these councillors stopped behaving like petulant children. Stamping their little feet and walking out of a meeting only demonstrates how childish party politicians have become.”

“The row surely wasn't over the bats on Drakes Island!”

“The words out of touch with Voters seems to ring true. Do they not realise they are voted in by the people to serve the people . Who want to know who they voted in are doing what they said they would. Some councils have public viewing areas so the voters can see the process in work or in PCC case NOT WORKING. Oh words that come to mind about them are petulant fools .”

“Perhaps Viv and co would prefer that the council libel somebody on the internet and have to stump up legal fees and damages?

What a bunch of self-interested idiots.

To quote Devonportboy : Pity they didn't do it during the votes on selling Citybus or the incinerator which were really important issues.”

“Doesn't this demonstrate just how ignorant of reality Cllr Bowyer and her co-conspirators are? If a webcast happens to record something defamatory whilst it is being recorded then the blame lies firmly with the person making the remarks and the webcast is witness to this as evidence. If, however, the council then continues to make the webcast available online (published) without blanking the defamatory remarks, the council itself becomes liable since it is either guilty of perpetuating unsubstantiated and possibly defamatory statements or prejudicing potential legal action against the original perpetrator.

PCC really has no option other than to 'edit' although, in the good name of transparency, such editing should consist of blanking the spoken word but not removing the visual content. I am surprised the webcasts are not delayed by several seconds, as is the case with major broadcasters, so that a 'bleep censor' can be used to blank any inappropriate language at source.

Still, cant blame PCC for confusion - they are new at this 'transparency' thing, after years of Tory control.”

“Queen Viv demonstrates that, in addition to being a rampant egomaniac and sore loser, she's also a petty hypocrite who apparently doesn't understand the law of the land. And her lackeys, having no thoughts of their own, trail obediently after her.

Political opportunism is one thing, but making such a huge mountain out of such a tiny molehill shows the depths of cynicism to which Pengelly will stoop to try and score a worthless political point.”