Any Questions?

Today's social media has many different facets with different applications catering for different needs and demands.

For example Twitter is good for ongoing news and pithy comments and critiques. You only have 140 characters to 'tweet' so you have to keep things simple. It's good for asking questions but it can sometimes be difficult to answer them.

Earlier today someone asked me a very fair and reasonable question on Twitter - trouble was that the answer needed more than 140 characters to do the question justice and I decided to answer the question via this blog and link to the blog via Twitter.

This got me thinking - perhaps I could invite questions from anyone who is thinking about who to vote for in either the upcoming Illogan by-election or next year's general election.

So if you or anyone out there in social media land would like to ask questions through either Twitter or Facebook then please go ahead and I will try my best to answer them as best as I can without feeding trolls.

Why should anyone vote for me to become the new Cornwall Councillor for Illogan when I am standing as a candidate for Truro & Falmouth in the general election?

First of all I live in Illogan, I have a business in Illogan Highway and I devote many hours to working for Illogan through my voluntary work as a member of Illogan Parish Council. I am committed to working hard for Illogan and I have a personal stake in it because I live here. None of that has changed because I have been MK's PPC for Truro/Falmouth and my committment to Illogan would not somehow decrease if I became the Cornwall Councillor.

I don't see, either, that being a Parliamentary candidate for Truro/Falmouth would be any different to being a Parliamentary candidate for Camborne/Redruth/Hayle in terms of how it would affect my work as a Cornwall Councillor. The fact is that the two activities are entirely different and require different approaches and need to be 'filed' in different compartments. A PPC needs to have a wider strategical knowledge and experience whereas a Cornwall Councillor needs to specialise in his Division to be truly effective. Compared to other candidates I am the only CC candidate who has this local commitment to Illogan. Other candidates are being shipped in for party political purposes. Mebyon Kernow has hard working Cornwall Councillors. Both Andrew Long and Loveday Jenkin are Cornwall Councillors and PPCs. They were both returned with large enhanced majorities last year because people recognise the hard work that MK councillors put in once they are elected.

In fact being a PPC is likely to enhance my capability to do a good job as CC for Illogan as it is enabling me to make a wider range of contacts - some of whom might be invaluable in helping with particular challenges in Illogan - this opportunity is not available to my opponents as far as I am aware.

As well as being politically active I run my own business. Doing all of these things means that I have to be good at time management, prioritising and working towards goals. I believe that these are skills that I have have managed to develop fairly well over a thirty year business career. If I were elected as CC for Illogan then I would use my councillor's allowance to employ someone to manage my business during the time that I spent doing CC work for Illogan. This means that I would actually have more time available to work for Illogan and several of my staff who live in Illogan would see an economic benefit.

So does being the MK PPC for Tru/Fal mean that I would be likely to take my off the ball for Illogan - definitely not. I see the two roles as being complimentary and mutually enhancing - certainly not acting to exclude each other.