I am up for hosting this, just want all parties to engage - we all know who did…and who didn’t. How is it the one who didn’t engage got in is beyond me.
By-election hustings… anybody up for it?
Already spoken to @jtonline some weeks ago about this. Likely its too late to organise now but I’d really encourage James, @afdy and @Melanie_Tellwright to organise one for May’s locals.
I was asked to do one this time, however as the by election is in my ward I didn’t feel it appropriate.
Happy to do one in May for a different ward though.
3 Likes
Thats fair, I think the easiest way to guarantee a hustings is to hold a Borough wide one in May and invite every party contesting May’s elections to attend. That way no excuses for any parties deciding not to attend.
But up to organisers to decide format, just a suggestion!
3 Likes
I’m in and look forward to it!!! Unsure why it would be too late now to organise for this by-election though… Its just a matter of somebody not connected to any of the candidates or living in ward with a vote as Mel said to offer to host a Zoom or Teams meeting and send out a link to the meeting here which we can then share via our own channels, surely? If the last 2 years have taught us anything its that nothing is impossible with tech behind us. The week of the election seems like a perfect opportunity to me and, more importantly, a fantastic opportunity for the electorate to engage. Just a suggestion…I’m open to other ideas…
I agree with everything you say earlier in this thread ahead of last May’s election so am encouraged and hopeful you will work with me to get a hustings organised before next Thursday even though you have already stated previously you don’t think there is enough time now… Serious candidates will pull out all the stops to make this happen for the benefit of our electorate so I look forward to hearing from you ASAP with input as to how we can make this happen.
Can somebody who is more tech savvy than me tag the other candidates please so that they are aware? Thanks in advance.
Really you should be asking @jtonline @afdy and @Melanie_Tellwright as politically non aligned people who have expressed an interest. As I said I discussed getting a hustings organised several weeks ago but without an independent moderator, or host location/call host its simply not possible.
I’ll attend any hustings as I’ve offered to do for the last 5 years but it would be inappropriate for any candidate or party to arrange a hustings themselves.
At no time have I suggested a candidate or party host this or any other hustings (see above)… I just think it is entirely possible, even at this late stage, to find an independent volunteer either on this site or elsewhere to agree to host such an important meeting so that our electorate can make a truly informed decision in the privacy of the polling booth.
We all understand that the public’s perception of us is at an all time low, hence my putting a call out for an independent volunteer not connected in any way to us personally or by party allegiance.
It really does surprise me that you and the other candidates haven’t just pulled out all the stops to make this happen. You say you “asked” several weeks ago but have any of you done anything since?
I can only speak for me being late to the party due to tech issues on here and being a bit of a tech luddite… but I am a great believer in putting in the effort to make things happen and get things done, its why i’m standing.
I am hopeful somebody will put their head above the parapet and volunteer… lets wait and see before throwing in the towel, shall we?
Would you be so kind as to tag the other candidates please, I can’t work out how to do it… thanks in advance.
I appreciate you’re new to this Clare. But rocking up the week before the vote asking why the other candidates haven’t done anything about this is a bit much. Especially when you’ve acknowledged its inappropriate for a party to organise it and you’ve got a written record of myself trying to organise a hustings on multiple occasions over multiple elections!
Again I spoke to last years debate organisers to try and get the ball rolling this year. Our host is unavailable. As I’ve said I’ll turn up to any hustings, as unlikely as that is to happen at this late stage. 
Finding an independent moderator is a challenge, and I did ask around when I was approached about this when the by election was announced but unfortunately I couldn’t find anyone to take on the role. Sorry everyone involved. As I have previously said - more than happy to host a hustings for outside of central in May and hope to be asked again then.
4 Likes
could somebody possibly approach Eastleigh News? They are truly independent, having published all our bios, surely?
I’m newish to Eastleigh Online but not politics, having stood before… which did you mean I am “new” to, just for clarification?
I’m sure Eastleigh Online welcomes all members. I’m not that new on here actually… I just haven’t engaged that much because I’m not great with tech as I already said but have had a bit of instruction on how to navigate the site from one of my volunteer team today, so its really not true to say I’m “rocking up the week before the vote”, though why that should matter to you in any case I can’t comment on.
I’ve just suggested a truly independent adjudicator/Chair that could possibly, if agreeable, host a hustings for us, an organisation that has covered us all equally… let’s hope they have the bandwidth and availability to accommodate us… I’ll leave it with admin to make contact if they feel it could be a goer. If you don’t ask you don’t get…
True if you don’t ask you don’t get!
I don’t think there’s time to set this up though in the time available (6 days). We had longer last time and that burnt a fair amount of time just trying to organise. 
What could be possible and relatively fast to achieve would be to agree a standard set of questions (“Politicians agree?!”, I hear you cry!). We ask each candidate to answer the questions and send in the video response (under 60 seconds each reply). We then compile a video of the answers together in one video for anyone to watch here anytime.
How does that sound?
If you think it’s a good idea; we need to crowdsource some agreed questions fast; to make this more fun - I’d suggest; each candidate can put forward a question for other candidates to answer. As long as the majority of candidates don’t vote against them, the question is included.
Initial Random questions:
- Who are you?
- Why are you standing in this Election?
- Why should I get out and vote?
- Icebreaker: What’s your favourite biscuit?
- If you were elected, what would be the first three things on your agenda?
- How would you look to bring people back to the town centre?
If you like the idea - please do suggest your questions you’d like included! For this to work and be useful (give people time to see it!) we need to finalising the questions by tomorrow morning, and video responses submitted by Sunday.
3 Likes
Happy to do this, might be worth tagging other party reps from greens tories and liberals as the candidates don’t seem to have seen/interacted with EO.
1 Like
@Clare_Fawcett @bhavin.dedhia @Josh_Constable @SimonPayne read up , should have tagged you in that post.
Will drop an email to Jack @ Green.
Hi Josh, Simon is aware. Lisa
1 Like
this is a fantastic idea!!! Just goes to show what CAN be achieved when people work together 
I will do whatever is needed and will think about a question… leave it with me!
Thanks again 
can I make a suggestion to add the debate please?
Can we invite the public on here to submit questions too about local issues? After all, they are the ones taking the time and trouble to go out and vote. We can then agree together which ones to answer depending on how many we get? Same deadline for users as for the candidates to submit?
Us candidates know what we think and stand for but it would also be good to have questions from residents/voters from the horses mouth, so to speak.
I have spoken to a great number of people who have a plethora of concerns and issues they want resolving, some even I was not fully aware of.