We need to talk about John

Now I'm up to date with my posts from the Total Politics site:

Let’s call him John because, well, it's as good a name as any.
He’s one of my fellow parish councillors. He’s white, retired, middle class, been a councillor since the year dot – pretty standard fare.
John made one of his rare visits to the parish council last month and sat and listened to a debate on a proposed parish plan. It’s something we have been working on for a several months. We’ve been trying to involve the wider community and establish an independent organising committee.
John wouldn’t know that because he only manages to attend about six months of the year and for long periods he’s on holiday.
So we’re all listening to an expert tell us how we can take this idea forward.
John leans forward and pronounces that it all seems a waste of time because it’s a duplication of effort. He then leans back and adds that he won’t vote against it though, he’ll just abstain. That’s his sole contribution for the evening. Not sure when we’ll see him again.
I sit there open mouthed.

You can read the rest here.