Well, for me, the watch is over! Pretty clear that social media has just about wiped out any pretence of local involvement in local politics; if ever there was any in the first place. Sadly, this forum seems moribund and the other is kept just alive by ultra right wingers and Facebook, lets just not go there. At least it saves a walk to the polling station every few years.
My take is that they reap what they sow. If the local population are so disinterested in local politics and decision making it's because they hold it in such low regard and place no value on it. The next step in that downward spiral is to question why they are expected to pay for it (no one wants to pay for something of no perceived value). A dangerous trend that our self serving elite need to wake up to. They could try doing something useful for a change. Wishful thinking, I know.
Interesting to see how the lead story in the Newbury Weekly News paper edition never made it onto the Newbury Today website ?
https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/home/26010/in-this-week-s-newbury-weekly-news.html
Indeed!
The powers that be think we shouldn't be worrying our little heads about such things! Let's be really honest, NWN is now really a paid for 'free paper'. Probably it's costs mean the journalist is now simply the receptionist who takes the ads in whatever spare time they can find. So, for paper news, as the old saying goes 'the end is nigh '.