Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
First Harringay Online candidate interview videos now live
HoL is making a series of short interviews with the local election candidates in the three wards of Harringay. The aim is twofold:
All candidates in the wards of Harringay, St Ann's and Seven Sisters have now been invited either directly or indirectly.
I'm very grateful for those candidates who have agreed to take part and have already done an interview. This is not easy stuff for many of them - probably not something most local candidates in most areas have to deal with.
On the other hand, we hope it's a great opportunity for the candidates to get across who they are and what they'd do in a way that's never been possible before.
We've tried to be fair by asking all candidates the same questions.
We've tried to be reasonable by not submitting the candidates to Paxmanesque grillings (as much as I'd have enjoyed that).
All candidates were advised to keep the interviews to between 3 and 5 minutes, but as you'll see some chose to go longer. I'm afraid we don't have the time to to shoot and re-shoot so we've left the videos as the candidates' oeuvres. Only a couple were edited to get them under the YouTube 10 minute maximum.
We hope you you find the videos useful.
Some candidates have yet to arrange an interview. I'm sure that for most it's because they're busy. It may be that for a small number there's a reluctance to submit themselves to scrutiny by the electorate. Of course we'll be letting you know who's who over the coming three weeks.
Our next batch should be up next week.
All are available on the candidates' pages - access via the HoL Local Election home page
Many thanks to Liz for finding time to help out and to Birdy for doing a sterling job on the post-production side.
- to help local candidates explain why they're standing and what they'd do if elected.
- to help local residents get a better feel of who the candidates are and what they plan for our neighbourhood.
All candidates in the wards of Harringay, St Ann's and Seven Sisters have now been invited either directly or indirectly.
I'm very grateful for those candidates who have agreed to take part and have already done an interview. This is not easy stuff for many of them - probably not something most local candidates in most areas have to deal with.
On the other hand, we hope it's a great opportunity for the candidates to get across who they are and what they'd do in a way that's never been possible before.
We've tried to be fair by asking all candidates the same questions.
We've tried to be reasonable by not submitting the candidates to Paxmanesque grillings (as much as I'd have enjoyed that).
All candidates were advised to keep the interviews to between 3 and 5 minutes, but as you'll see some chose to go longer. I'm afraid we don't have the time to to shoot and re-shoot so we've left the videos as the candidates' oeuvres. Only a couple were edited to get them under the YouTube 10 minute maximum.
We hope you you find the videos useful.
Some candidates have yet to arrange an interview. I'm sure that for most it's because they're busy. It may be that for a small number there's a reluctance to submit themselves to scrutiny by the electorate. Of course we'll be letting you know who's who over the coming three weeks.
Our next batch should be up next week.
All are available on the candidates' pages - access via the HoL Local Election home page
Many thanks to Liz for finding time to help out and to Birdy for doing a sterling job on the post-production side.
Tags for Forum Posts: 2010 local elections
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by perdeep on
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I think this kind of scrutiny is superb. As for who HOL only reaching a certain group of people - that may be right but being politically aware doesn't stop us - or at least me feeling disillusioned and not wanting to vote. In fact I wasn't going to vote in regard to the Euro elections last time round and only did so because of Liz ( I think) putting the link to working out how individuals views tally with which party. Perhaps I'm rather superficial but that little exercise fired me up not only did I vote but told friends and neighbours who aren't a part of HOL and they all did the online quiz thing. This created great discussion and at least four other people who weren't gonig ot vote did so. So, the citizen power of HOL stretches beyond just its members!!
Katey raises the point there will be many people who cannot relate to, understand or engage with the kind of conversation that takes place on HOL- well who is she referring to? Many people in Tottenham that I know would never go to a hustings, never had a candidate knock at their door- the party leaflets are not worth the paper they written on- as they say nothing of substance. No wonder so many of us can't be bothered with politics and HOL in a small and humble way has at least made me smile and think about voting and if candidates for our area were video taped I would invite the neighbours in- elderly, those for whom English is a second language neighbours for a cup of tea or a sherry and a pakora to discuss the message on the video as well as admitedly our usual rant at how useless some politicans are...I'm sure our question to our politicans would be: hang on how come two of you we never see,hear from - you don't respond when we try to contact you and then you have a nerve to vote for you. Saying that one of our councillors is likely to receive our votes because he has been consistent in keeping a dialgoue with those he serves.
The point I'm making is I don't see HOL as my little virtual domian of a privileged few but as a means of finding out whats going on in our Borough and share that with as many neighbours,friends, shop keepers,( even - people in queues) as possible. I do sometimes think HOL is focussed on certain parts of the Borough - that doesn't include mine with its complex challenges but that then is up to people like me to put right.
Culturally, I do find HOL sometimes a bit strange /mystifying everyone is so nice on the surface but wrapped in between nice words are some sharp 'telling off' messages. I think this must be about not wanting to be negative or something - I don't know... but in the name of diversity I hope my cultural style of saying it as it is can also be tolerated or indeed embraced!
So well done Hugh and Liz.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Thanks for the feedback Perdeep, but more than that for me thank you for what you said. It was fascinating for me to read.
It was indeed Liz who posted the link you mentioned. We didn't make such a fuss about those elections but I added our first post about them back at the end of April last year to get people thinking about the issue.
Here's a link to all our Euro election threads.
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Very good and informative all round - especially the LD trio.
I'm glad to have proof of Tim Caines' Wightman presence and his bow towards a Bus Route for his road.
I'm also tickled by Nora's good humoured reference to her Twitter presence.
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It's excellent that this debate should be occasioned by my use of a short phrase. Exactly appropriate for us to be doing so. HoL is after all daring to involve itself as the Fifth Estate in this democratic process. And my view, as I explained to some colleagues recently, is that we are amateurs and so need to tread with much care and forethought. Our intentions are to inform without bias, to engage without hesitation and to open up without favour. Yet it's possible to perceive well meaning amateurs having an effect every bit as pernicious as more sinister pros.
At one level we are, as Katey says, just a website, but I look on us more as just as much a virtual space for locals.
I completely recognise the fear many candidates will have of this whole process and I hope I made that pretty clear in my original posting. I have every sympathy with them and have done everything possible to minimise the understandable reasons for that fear and enable them to take part in a very transparent form of local election conversation.
I'm absolutely sure that most candidates want to take the opportunity to tell local voters what they're about. I'd welcome returning to this debate in a few weeks' time with the benefit of experience to inform us.
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No Hugh, I haven't said that HOL is JUST a website ...my point was that although electronic media and websites are hugely exciting and potentially extremely powerful tools for bringing people together, sharing information and uniting communities, they are not without their downsides and dangers. I think it's good to acknowledge this and understand why candidates and individuals may not wish to enter into dialogue with particular websites, publications and organisations ...perhaps that is a better blog topic though.
Everyone involved has clearly dealt with the matter of making these exciting videos sensitively, and Hugh I think you did a really good job of making this clear in your original posting.
As John D points out, it is really important to acknowledge that an impressive 'performance' in front of a camera does not guarantee a candidate has substance. The rise of the 'celebrity politician' is an issue which is of concern to me ...with regard to HOL it is clear to see from the videos that what HOL is trying to do is cut through the crap, ask simple questions to candidates, be non-threatening and obtain clear and useful answers to help all voters make a decision about who to vote for. Small groups doing something powerful is something that always raises suspicion ...but great things can come from small organisations and amateurs - we all have to start somewhere!
There are people trying to raise voter awareness and engage the electorate in the Tottenham area and other parts of the borough - Perdeep I would love to talk to you about this, and without HOL and electronic media we would not be able to have this dialogue. I think HOL is great, and it would be fantastic to see neighbourhood websites which offer dialogue between local people work as well in other parts of the borough. Using all available ways to empower all local people is hugely important ...on that point at least I think we would all agree
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Depending on your ward, each video is posted under the name of each candidate: see section 3 Information about candidates on the local election page to find links to each wards information and video.
Alternatively you can view Harringay onlines video channel on YouTube to see all our content.
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Sorry if it's not clear Donna. Follow the link at the bottom of the original posting which will take you to the Local Elections Home Page. Once there, Item 3 will link you to three Candidates Pages, one for each of the three wards relevant for Harringay.
The local election lozenge which appears at the top right of most pages will take you to the Local Elections Home Page at any time.
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Permalink Reply by Donna on
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thank you. I live in Stroud Green, n4 - how can I find out which ward I'm in, and which candidate videos to watch?
Your help is much appreciated.
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Sorry Donna. We're just focussing on the wards which are completely are partly in the neighbourhood of Harringay. We don't cover the whole borough (of Haringey). How about suggesting to Andy on stroudgreen.org that he does the same thing for the Stroud Green wards (and please send him my apologies for my infernal cheek since he may not want to go there with his site!).
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Permalink Reply by alistairj on
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I have to say that I am very impressed with all of this. Firstly to the candidates putting themselves forward in the first place, and secondly to the HOL production team for collating the information, online interviews etc.
Like many people, whilst I believe it is important to vote I sometimes get to the booth not really knowing who/what I am voting for (which isn't great for democracy). Different forms of communication work better for some people than others (I don't typically react that well to somebody on the doorstep asking 'Can I/we count on your vote?'). This works for me - congratulations to all concerned.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Would it be a good idea to have a 'candidate video' widget on the HOL front page?
I know you've got an 'Election 2010' election widget there already but I think the videos will be the most popular aspect. As someone else pointed out the campaign literature is predictable and boring. The videos are much more personel and I think more useful.
I did find it difficult to navigate through to the videos.
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