Different view (From Durham Times)

Different view

2:26pm Friday 5th February 2010

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Sir, – In response to the views of Coun Southwell’s quotes regarding Statue-gate, I am confused by the strength of his statements: “Where is democracy, it is the death of democracy for Durham. We have had thousands of people who have signed petitions.”

The death of democracy?

Wow, Cuba here we come. As far as I was aware, a petition does not constitute democracy, a vote constitutes democracy.

To continually roll out the meaningless statistics serves only to place an uneven slant on the truth. I don’t argue that 6,000 people may have signed a petition but in the interests of “democracy”, did those leading the petition make note of the numbers who declined, or the numbers who simply walked past.

In addition, the “4,000 joining a Facebook group” cannot be fairly distinguished from the 6,000 people accosted in the street for a signature.

The saddest thing in all of this is the lack of perspective given to the whole situation.

The city has held some fantastic cultural events recently and the teams behind such events should be commended.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to be in the market square for any of the numerous festivals or events of last year will no doubt be impressed at the quality of performances on view.

I for one am glad that the statue is being moved. If we wish to gain City of Culture status in 2012, then we need a progressive attitude.

The square has potential to be a fantastic platform for future events and the statue is clearly an obstruction to this.

The level of discontent shown towards this whole thing has been blown out of all proportion.

It would appear that some people just enjoy a whinge, whilst others simply enjoy opposing progression of any kind.

LIAM ROBERTS Durham City

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