UK NEWS

BLOGGER WHOSE ABUSE FORCED A COUNCIL TO QUIT

Niall Connolly with the site that heaped abuse on its members

Friday October 30,2009

By Martin Evans

A TOWN council has disbanded after members walked out over being constantly criticised by a lone internet blogger.

Eleven of the 15 members of the town council resigned after being subjected to three years of online scrutiny and abuse.

The blog was started by Niall Connolly, 58, who first attacked the council after plans for a community hall were scrapped.

Councillors claim the blog has become increasingly bitter and personal, with members described as clowns, hypocrites and jackasses.

One councillor, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of being singled out, said yesterday: “The abuse became too much.

“The attacks amounted to personal abuse and we’ve tried hard to ignore it but it came to a head this week.

“I appreciate the situation is unusual but there’s only so much abuse you can take.”

The row started after Mr Connolly moved to Somerton, in Somerset, with his wife, who he does not want named, in 2006.

He became disillusioned with members of the council after promises of a community hall failed to materialise.

He launched his blog, entitled MUCKandBRASS, and it has escalated to endless claims and counter claims between him and the council.

In one of his latest rants, entitled The Whispered Word, he blasts members who have “only just discovered democracy”. On August 1 he branded councillor Martyn Smith a racist and described his statement in a local paper “more like a Nazi call to arms or an invitation to ethnic cleansing”.

The comments came after Cllr Smith implied only locals should be allowed to vote on Somerton issues.

Mr Connolly said yesterday: “My blog is completely fact-based. I started it because I wanted to circumvent councillors’ control of all the information the people of Somerton hear.

“I feel as though I have a moral commitment to the people here. I have no political agenda and hate all politicians with equal measure.

“Here we have a cosy group of people who are so used to residents taking them at face value that when they are challenged they can’t take it.”

But the row took a sinister turn on May 28 when a car of the same make, model and colour as Mr Connolly’s was torched at 2am. Bricks have also been thrown through his windows.

He does not believe town councillors were responsible.

The trouble boiled over at a meeting on Tuesday after Mr Connolly sent letters to every council member demanding they explain their policies and democratic stance to him.

Eleven of the 15 promptly staged a walkout, citing “impossible working conditions”. One was absent from the meeting and another stormed out in support, leaving just two. Town clerk Rodger Calderwood said a council needed at least a third of its members in post to function.