Dear Keith CBE…Thank you.

Dear Keith CBE,

Thank you so much for your honesty in the wake of yesterday’s protest, describing the hundred angry sixth formers who invaded the county council building as  ‘ugly [and] badly dressed’, ‘scruffy’ and ‘oiks’.  Your astute wit (I can hear chuckles from Witney and snorts in North Oxford), is doing a sterling job of dissuading the ‘wrong’ sort of person from engaging in the political system.

I find it astounding that your levels of perception are such that even when barricaded in your office you were able to offer your insight into the miscreants’ activity – expressing your concern over the way those inside the building seemed to already know the internal layout.  Are there higher, evil forces at work here Keith CBE?  I must say, that statement totally altered my perspective (although admittedly I was standing outside your glass-fronted building); because what I saw was about 100 excited, angry sixteen year olds simply running around and then leaving without much of a fuss when told to by the police (mind you – so would I if the beady-eyed copper with the extendable baton was screaming at me – and if that didn’t do the trick the two mounted policemen would have done the job for sure).  I know that, if you reply, you’ll probably tell me the whole thing was orchestrated, that the kids did not initiate it – but I was there Keith CBE, standing outside, not barricaded in my office with my P.A.

But as the glorious leader of our council (I even have that picture of you shaking hands with Davey C pinned up in my room), doing your duty in placing profit over people, targeting the no-voice vulnerable over the privileged (isn’t it wonderful that none of those inside your office yesterday were of voting age – such a sense of freedom when you can really let insults fly out without fear of retribution by electorate), I trust you Keith CBE, I really do.  I’m sure when those sixth formers who were inside your office yesterday have their EMA cut and unemployment amongst the youth rises – they’ll thank you too.   Or maybe they won’t, because after being ridiculed by you yesterday and having their voice ignored every time they bravely raise it, they may well just not bother trying to engage.

I’m sure you’ve realised by this point in the letter, Keith CBE, that actually I wasn’t too impressed with your comments yesterday (and that pin up of you and Davey C is shaped rather like a dartboard).  I think it is yet another example of your inability to grasp the problems at stake here and how much some of these cuts are going to affect people living in your council, and, surprise surprise how angry we are that you are wholeheartedly embracing them.  But hey, what more should I expect from someone who claims that petitions and protests are pointless.

I do have one final point to make, Keith CBE, and this is to give you some true thanks.  I really do believe that your rhetoric about creating a real Big Society is working.  It’s happening right beneath your nose. People, for the first time in decades, are engaging with the political system.  Yesterday I saw sixth formers (miles ahead of my political awareness aged sixteen) making the link between your office which is cutting their EMA, tax avoiders such as Vodafone and Boots, and the bailing out of the banks – yes you’ve got it, they understand Cameron’s true meaning when he says ‘we’re all in this together’ – wealthy, conservative politicians, big businesses and the banks.  If somebody whose only just got their GCSE results can figure it out then why can’t you, Keith CBE?  Oh no wait, I know why, because they are witnessing the effects of this holy trinity first hand, because these cuts affect them, not you.   And barricading yourself in your office every time they come knocking at your door makes it extremely easy to retain your blind faith in the ‘good’ you are doing. The Big Society is here Keith CBE, it may not be the one you envisaged, but it’s on your doorstep and it’s angry, and the more you provoke it with idiotic comments the angrier it will get, and all the while its learning, expanding, and coming to the realisation that the status quo can be broken, no matter who stands in our way.

Your faithful citizen (not subject),

Will

Oxford resident

P.S.   If the county council have any extortionate contract for post protest damage mitigation which they fancy outsourcing – please do bear me in mind.

P.P.S. Tony Brett, if you’re reading this – having read your superbly argued and not at all pompous article on the students’ occupation, I’ll be in contact shortly.