Handford Parish Council debacle

I’m speaking about general reactions to the video. Not on this thread.

I wonder if the people who find it funny are in the fortunate position of never having shared their life with a man who shouts and rages at them, who bullies and controls. Because I’ve had that experience and I don’t find it funny at all. I am in awe of Jackie Weaver for remaining so calm and acting so decisively.

@Caaarrrl

Those men intimidated her

No, those men tried to intimidate her, they thought they had the power and tried to use that little power they believed they had, which amounted to shouting at a device, turns out she had the power and used it when they acted entirely inappropriately.

The young angry one sounded possessed! Hissing with venom.

@MammaMiaWallace On the version I watched, it was said that Jackie Weaver had been invited in because a previous meeting had also seen bad behaviour and the removal of the chair. She said she was there to keep that from happening again. Due to this, she was definitely entitled to challenge that behaviour and remove those people when they began to misbehave again- indeed that is why she was brought in.

I watched. I have to say I did think the men's behaviour was funny (sorry) but was really laughing at them. Just because women put up with this rubbish all the time and Jackie Weaver coped admirably. Sometimes the subversive thing to do is laugh and I think increasingly our society and commentary seriously lacks humour. Also to say, it reminds me of a rather wonderful novel, now also televised, called "The Casual Vacancy" by our very own J K Rowling. If you haven't read or watched, do. It is brilliant and relevant to this,

I hated watching it- was expecting some silly Vicar of Dibley spat, it was horrible and I have seen this type of shouting down before aimed at female colleagues.

frumpety
the council website has been edited today
but the evidence is mostly there
they are a shower of shit (as are several others in the 2011 cohort)
we WILL undo the damage Pickles did

Caaaarll
Jackie is playing to her audience
she knows EXACTLY what she is taking on there
hence why she was Zoom host, not a Cllr

I just hope this gives publicity to the May elections
that result in good things

Not all parish councils are like that!

My local parish council, which I've been on for 10 years, has 5 male councillors and 5 female, and a female clerk. As it happens, there was a contested election in 2019. Two of the elected members stood down because of Covid - one because he had a business to look after and the other because he had a shielding family member to care for, and their replacements had to be co-opted, but 8 are fully elected. We have the sex balance right but we'd like to do something about the age profile. We know that on average we're too old. Most members are over 60, simply because it's an unpaid role and difficult to fit round earning a living and raising a family, but there are two younger women. It tends to attract retired people with a decent pension who want to give something back and have the time to do so. Perhaps one older man can be condescending to women. I've chaired it in my time and behaviour like that would not be tolerated on my watch. We've had both women and men as chairs.

We are, needless to say, not Handforth.

Parish councillors get voted in with a very low level of votes. Now that their neighbours know how bad they are it might be easier for someone new to be elected simply for an alternative to these shouty men.

Councilworker
This maybe it. I found on a Google search so is public. Doesn't sound z very nice ace to live if you are a woman.

My abuser was very good at projecting so I would get accused of what he was doing to me. Classic abuse tactic.

<a class="break-all" href="https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/o8OC201agLIYvYEv-0Dxs_8t_5NrsoE0If8lwi0szVFOjW7Fa57DiLgTY5ht19DHFJ0JSCFVc6PTbawgd3X2EiWyyvYv2JyE197o_RF3ewlRVhOxIA=s0-d-e1-ft#s.yimg.com/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV2/23/logos/facebook.png" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/o8OC201agLIYvYEv-0Dxs_8t_5NrsoE0If8lwi0szVFOjW7Fa57DiLgTY5ht19DHFJ0JSCFVc6PTbawgd3X2EiWyyvYv2JyE197o_RF3ewlRVhOxIA=s0-d-e1-ft#s.yimg.com/nq/storm/assets/enhancrV2/23/logos/facebook.png

It was an unpleasant thing to watch in parts, the male aggression was quite something.
It was all too relatable for many women I suspect.
The moment when the ex chair got cut off was funny but overall it wasn't a comic video.

I just saw Jackie on the itv news saying that the whole encounter made her knees shake. Why is it being reported as a funny zoom meeting gone wrong type of story?

Those men intimidated her and it is very telling that the women involved were glad that it was on zoom and not in person.

Disgusting reporting all round.

@ListeningQuietly , I appreciate that she wasn't the employed by the PC Clerk, they had suspended him I believe ( would love to know that story ! ) I thought she had come in to support the PC, so acting a bit like the Clerk and Bouncer in one ?

Aled is not a practicing solicitor but does love threating legal action (sound familiar?)

I suspect it is not such a rare quality amongst the 48%

I found it funny as a council officer who had dealt with men like this often but doesn't have the power/ability to boot them from the meeting. Just Jackie saying she will remove him and then ...gone. I think she is absolutely bloody brilliant.
Aled is not a practicing solicitor but does love threating legal action (sound familiar?) Including against a woman who removed him from a Facebook group for unacceptable behaviour.

frumpety
She is not, never was and never will be
the clerk.
She is CEO of the CALC

its a council that has been dysfunctional since it was founded in 2011

[quote findyourbacon]Glad to hear Jackie knows the difference between sex and gender

twitter.com/skynews/status/1357727568334630914?s=21[/quote]

“had no status to speak other than when invited".

So can only speak when spoken to ? Which is absolute power hungry bollocks, the Clerk can interject at any time to advise the councillors, especially if they are being total knobs failing to understand that their actions are possibly not conducive with the framework that all PC's should work within.

There are a few ghastly comments on M.E.N. and Cheshire Live agreeing with Tolver and his cronies.

www.nalc.gov.uk/our-work/local-elections

The WH coverage was everything I dreaded WH would become. The opener was a cheery 'has lockdown got to you like it has this chap?" Nothing about the sexist bullying behaviour shown.

I contacted them to complain about this. Jackie herself was great. Never heard that presenter before (generally avoid WH). She sounded pretty gormless.

Flashbacks to a meeting I attended after I ceased to be a governor, having previously been Chair of Governors for two years and done an enormous amount of unpaid work for the school, but fallen foul of a faction who loathed the Headteacher and who had organised a petition objecting to some of his decisions, which by extension was a petition against me, because they couldn't get at him (protected by the LEA). I had drafted the Annual Report which by custom and practice we distributed to all families in the school every year. I went to the meeting where this was to be approved, by the invitation of the Vice-Chair. I talked them through it. A newly elected Parent Governor then told me I could leave, as it was for the governors to decide whether to approve the report, and I wasn't a governor. Thanks a bunch. It took me quite a while to recover my equilibrium after this episode.

This in the Manchester Evening News makes it clear that Jackie Weaver did have the authority to act as Proper Officer:

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/uk-news/who-is-jackie-weaver-handforth-19774637

I was listening to PM on Radio 4 earlier and Evan Davis was treating the thing as a joke. He also had a male guest who I think was from a LA as he talked about potholes etc, who was minimising the whole thing as one of those things that happens when people get heated about local matters that they care deeply about.

Not a mention of sexism. Not a mention of the various other men who made their points firmly and calmly and didn't resort to yelling. Not a single woman interviewed to give a female perspective on what it's like to go through your life with angry men yelling at you that you have no authority. They don't see it, do they?

“had no status to speak other than when invited".

That tells you everything you need to know about him.