Democracy: The current discourse | 3 November 2025
Cllr Sam Jones is exceptional, sadly
First, I want to thank Cllr Sam Jones for both the importance and eloquence of the message he shared on his Instagram account recently, which I've embedded below. My disappointment—bordering, in all honesty, on despair—should not in any way be construed as criticism, or anything other than the strongest endorsement, frankly, of his words and conduct. Rather, it's that those words, that manner, so starkly contrast with what we see and hear in current political discourse at all levels of governments, all around the world, today.
The pedigree of Cllr Jones' sentiments is strong; ancient, in fact. To take but one example, Cicero, in 44 BC, espouses similar in his De Officiis (On Duties), § 1.85:
Now, those who care for the interests of a part of the citizens and neglect another part, introduce into the civil service a dangerous element—dissension and party strife. The result is that some are found to be loyal supporters of the democratic, others of the aristocratic party, and few of the nation as a whole.
One could look at the breadth and depth of human achievement, and be crushed, held in awe and indecision, by the sheer weight of it. And I think we would all agree that that would be a tragedy. But to so easily discard it completely, or to behave in such an office as if one were doing so, is equally horrific, in my mind. While some may argue about our responsibility to those who've gone before us, we must all agree that we ignore their lessons—Cicero, Plato, Mill, and so many others—at our collective peril.
PS: Asking someone to look at you while you're speaking to them—to ask for that respect, as I saw someone comment—is not a personal attack. In the unlikely event that the councillor in question was unable to do so, there are plenty of means in this modern age of having that communicated to all participants, such that Cllr Jones would've been well aware of the fact, and undoubtedly conducted himself differently. Which leaves the far more likely scenario, in which the councillor whom Cllr Jones was addressing can't even be bothered to give him the respect we'd ask of a stranger addressing us in the street.
In other words, a further example of the low bar in current democratic process and discourse.