Are Blair's e-petitions useless?
Ans: Depends on who you ask
Like so much these days, there is what you are seen to be doing, what you actually do, what it is meant to achieve... and actually does by way of anything tangible.
I got quite excited by the potential of e-petitions as it seemed to offer the individual an opportunity of access to the political process, and a voice to the national population, that was relatively free of gatekeepers in the former at minion level, and the latter free of those in the media who are jealous of their role in shaping our lives.
Hence I posted my own, which was a proposed solution to the issues of IHT (which the Express simply wants to kill off, which I deem unlikely) and climate change (about which a lot of 'debate' on money 'in' and where it goes in the name of green taxes still rages).
Sadly, I posted it just before the success of the road petition prompted a shower of rather frivolous efforts, that diluted the impact of any but those managed by those who have the political muscle to move the necessary masses, or the media to do likewise.
Hence the gatekeepers of power and communication have successfully regained their positions in what we get to know about, care about and act upon.
So I'd say that yes, they are now useless, and those with a vested interest in keeping the people out of the process of government worked pretty hard, and successfully, to make them so.
Well played. Sadly.
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