Handford Parish Council debacle

If Jackie Weaver is on MN it would make my year!

it didn’t appear that she is or had the proper authority to just arbitrarily kick elected officials people off the meeting. It’s extraordinarily rude!

Rude but effective! She got my sympathy because of the proper officer drama. It was so petty.

Did you see her intake of breath when asked about 'gender' and how she seamlessly answered without confrontation by referencing sex instead?
Perfect diplomat.

I so want her to be One of Us. I'm giving you all side eye right now wondering which of you is Jackie Weaver.

#WeAreAllJackieWeaver

I was cheering about her throwing him out!

The hissing and venom coming out of a tantrumming Aled Brewerton was very telling.

He's got abusive written all over him.

Oh my gosh, she's brilliant.

I wonder if she's on here!

Glad to hear Jackie knows the difference between sex and gender

twitter.com/skynews/status/1357727568334630914?s=21

Did I hear a different women's hour? I had seen the short clip, and didn't feel I could comment without better context. They definitely spoke about bullying of women in that situation being a problem.

I think that Jackie demonstrated amazing professionalism and should be very proud of herself.

The behaviour of Aled in particular was disgraceful.

One of my nightmare governors was a retired man who thought he was God's gift because of his business career, which was certainly impressive, but of very limited relevance to acting as a critical friend to an inner city primary school. His own children had been educated in the private sector from the age of 3. One of his ideas for checking that the school was doing well was to review which secondary schools our year 6 children moved on to. There was no telling him anything. He loved the sound of his own voice.

Gosh, this is cathartic.

I suspect that people find it funny because it is not unfamiliar - the dynamic maybe is extreme but it's not exceptional

Every interaction with our local community council I've had suggests that this is pretty much the case for many of them.

Ruled by older men with overinflated sense of their own importance, who like to throw their weight about - nobody with a job or children (or both) has the time to spend on these meetings, so they run about unchecked and powermad banging on about their own pet grievances.

NOT ALL COMMUNITY COUNCILS/OLDER MEN. Just the ones I've encountered.

I've done quite a bit of local council work. The video was extreme but not untypical. I think a lot of the older men use it to bolster up their lost sense of purpose once they are retired, having had no interests outside work. The levels of pettiness have to be seen to be believed and flouncing isn't uncommon. Its a shame more women don't get involved, but frankly I dont blame them.

That sounds awful Glenchase. Really unpleasant, and the kind of thing that would actually make you like the place that you live a bit less.

I can understand why you've considered leaving, but maybe this video will shine a light on this sort of behaviour and make easier to challenge? It might also make communities more aware of what goes on behind the scenes. I really hope you carry on and can recruit some more women to join the pushback.

That man was screeching like an actual 4 year old who wanted sweeties

That’s exactly what i said to dh when I watched it

#bemorejackie

Born in 1976 according to companies house. there's a surprising amount of publicly available information about him out there, including his address.

I am actually a parish councillor. I joined because I thought the (elderly, mostly male) council would benefit from hearing a young mother’s voice. But I’ve been considering resigning because of the rudeness I’ve repeatedly encountered, mostly from one particular male councillor. I’ve been accused of “pushing my personal agenda as a mother” because we received a grant and I suggested spending it on playground equipment for disabled kids, instead of a notice board which is what the male councillors wanted to spend it on. My kids aren’t disabled but apparently the fact I’m a mother is colouring my perception because I’m too focused on providing things for children. I thought that was the whole point of having different people on the council, to represent different viewpoints?

I was also accused of “meddling in other people’s business” because I opposed a planning application that the male councillors wanted to pass. Apparently if you don’t agree to permit other people’s plans then you’re meddling - they had already decided that they wanted this to go ahead so it was very inconvenient that I objected.

So it’s with shock that I see this behaviour is widespread in parish councils... but also relief because I realise it’s not just being directed at me - it’s everywhere. I’m this close to just saying fuck it, I have better things to do than argue with you lot.

I couldn't believe that newsreaders were laughing at this video this morning.

How can anyone find that bloke (the vice chair?) screaming and intimidating a woman like that funny? That's the point where the video ended and cut to laughing presenters

Are we supposed to find it totes hilares and acceptable because of their ages or something?

I thought it was interesting the women were thankful it was a zoom meeting. I took that to mean the clerk would have been physically threatened by the men, if not actually assaulted, if they had been in the same room, given the level of vitriol pouring from the vice chair. He couldn't keep still, he was so angry. I'd've been frightened for my safety if I were in that position against men like that, demonstrating uncontrollable anger.

He's called Cllr Aled Brewerton

His LinkedIn profile says he is "Experienced Solicitor with a demonstrated history of working in the legal services industry. Skilled in Legal Assistance, Arbitration, Dispute Resolution" - really?

Hideous man

Right I've listened to Jackie on WH now, again she was calm and reasonable. It did mean I had to hear the most aggressive bit of the meeting again and I'm stunned at just how angry that man got. If that had been in person I'm not sure he'd have held it together - he was ready to lynch her.

@MammaMiaWallace Parish councillors are elected, there are often not many people wanting to take on the role, so they put their name forward and if there are only as many people as positions available then they are elected if you see what I mean ?
You have to meet all the eligibility criteria as well.

MammaMia do you think it's acceptable for people (any people) to behave like that in an official capacity during a meeting? Shouting in uncontrolled rage? Sneering and laughing at the person who is trying to maintain order and deal with the issue at hand?

I don't. And I particularly don't think it's acceptable where the people aggressively shouting and sneering are all men doing it to a woman. It's a display of naked sexism, demonstrating their belief in their inherent superiority, and that she should defer to them. 'STOP... TALKING' the self-styled clerk says. 'STOP BEING...' and you just know all the things he wants to say here (female, disobedient, disrespectful to me as a man...)