The ideal Monmouthshire councillor would be James Bond according to a tweeter who won a competition highlighting democracy issues.
As part of Local Democracy Week in October, Monmouthshire County Council asked its followers on Twitter to tell them who would make the best councillor and why.
Winner of the competition was Ian Hall from Pontnewydd who goes by the Twitter name ‘@HallPhoto’ and runs www.hallphotographic.co.uk, a contemporary photography and design company.
With his entry he was judged as having sent the best tweet and wins an Ipod Nano:
“It would have to be James Bond for councillor, because there would be no task he couldn’t accomplish!”
Other entries that were highly commended were:
- @MONEW_Women: How about Jack Sparrow for councillor? Could be fun, touch unpredictable and interesting don’t you think?
- @RachelGruber: Nessa from Gavin and Stacey because she knows what’s occurrin’.
- @Smurfje71: Dr Who (preferably by David Tennant :-)) as he has solutions for all problems and knows how to save the world!
John Pearson, Local Democracy Manager at Monmouthshire County Council, said:
“Our Chairman, Peter Clarke, was delighted to meet Ian and present him with his prize.
“Ian’s entry was our favourite as it showed how councillors need to be multi-skilled in order to achieve the wide range of tasks that face them. We also thought that councillors should be shaken not stirred!”
Twitter users were also asked to get involved in a live Q&A session with council cabinet members on in October to mark Local Democracy Week 2010.
Cabinet members who answered questions were: Peter Fox, Robert Greenland, Geoff Burrows, Giles Howard and Phil Murphy.
The councillors met from 5pm to 7pm and answered questions received using the council’s Twitter account and blog.”
Councillor Peter Fox, Leader of the council, said:
“We wanted to encourage people to think about issues around democracy in Monmouthshire.
“We had some fantastic questions on subjects varying from the Big Society to X Factor.”
Cabinet members will conduct another live Q&A on January 11th.
You can read the questions and answers asked during the live session in the October section of the council blog at www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/your
You can follow the council on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@monmouthshirecc
