Councillor Terry Kelly

Rather belatedly, I’ve discovered the great Councillor Terry Kelly, ‘possibly the most stupid person in the blogosphere’ (Tom Paine).

I thought Cllr Kelly was an elaborate hoax dreamed up by folks like Devil’s Kitchen, Mr Eugenides, and Right For Scotland, but, no, he apparently does really exist. He’s a Labour councillor in Paisley who writes a blog comprising

The view from Left field, politics, entertainment, argument and insight into my world. For Socialism, peace and justice, against racism, sexism, sectarianism, nationalism and discrimination. Avanti Poplo [sic]!

It’s not so much Cllr Kelly’s politics that are the problem as his utter, boneheaded stupidity. He’s not so much an example of the old joke about ‘they’d elect a monkey around here if it was wearing the right rosette’ as an example of how, in some places, they’ve not even bothered with the monkey and have just elected the rosette instead. In most places, the rosette thus elected at least has the sense to keep a low profile, quietly enjoying the perks of public office, voting the way he’s told by his more intelligent and able colleagues and not embarrassing the party too much (I hale from a Labour one-party city, so I know how these things are done).

Not so Cllr Kelly; he’s got himself one of those blog things and he shares his views, in semi-literate prose, with the rest of the world. If he were an American in the appropriate part of the USA he’d doubtless be trying to ban the teaching of evolution without any clear idea of why, other than that it’s an atheistic idea and not the sort of thing we want in Kansas, but, since he’s a Scot in a part of Scotland where Labour are the natural party of government, he’s Labour; or, rather, he reproduces what he takes to be left-wing attitudes without apparently having any clear idea of why anyone might hold them and — which is what made me think he must be a spoof — with no conception of how to argue for them other than by being abusive with his interlocutors.

For abusive he certainly is. Clairwil got accused of writing from ‘some kind of secure unit somewhere‘ when she complained about Labour’s treatment of asylum seekers and apparently bloggers Martin Kelly and David Farrer are also suffering from mental problems, to the extent that Cllr Kelly’s daughter Rayleen (yes, seriously), another blogger and Labour councillor who certainly seems to demonstrate the truth of the proposition that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, took it into her head to consult a psychologist about their views on her father, presumably to see whether they were suffering from sluggishly progressing schizophrenia.

More recently, after Cllr Kelly wrote about how one of his constituents had been nominated for an award for her community work without actually explaining what she’d done and a blogger, Right For Scotland, asked — not unreasonably, to my mind — him to expand on her nomination, he refused on the grounds ‘I don’t trust you’ and, on discovering that the blogger had worked as a youth volunteer, opined

that makes me shiver, judging by your recent comments I assume that was in the days before disclosure checks.

and went on to explain,

If RFS was to apply to work with kids today based on what he writes in his blog, IMO he’d have no chance.

When pressed on this, he expanded his objections to include the blogs to which RFS links, including Devil’s Kitchen for some reason. Small wonder that The Standards Commission for Scotland has twice censured the Councillor for his behaviour both in the council chamber and to members of the public.

The man is a revelation. Of what, I’m not quite sure, but a revelation he most certainly is and well worth a read, whatever your politics.

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