There was an interesting little spat at last week’s full council meeting when Leader, Cllr Jon Harvey, attacked Cllr Huw Murphy for his about face on the second homes council tax.
The Leader reminded Cllr Murphy that, the last time this matter had been debated, he had proposed a 200% premium and now here he was arguing that it should be reduced to 150%.
Cllr Harvey had looked up the webcast of the meeting on 14 December last year and he told Cllr Murphy: “You seem to have done a bit of a U-turn [or was it a Huw-turn].”
I always think that arguments don’t come much weaker than accusing someone of changing their mind.
After all, what’s the point of having a debate unless you entertain the idea that your opponent might come round to your point of view?
And as John Maynard Keynes is supposed to have put it: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
The world would surely be a dull place if we were all saddled with the same set of opinions for the rest of our lives.
Indeed, in Cllr Harvey’s case it seems that he doesn’t even practice what he preaches.
A few months ago someone drew Old Grumpy’s attention to the following that appeared on Facebook:
Assuming that “we” includes Cllr Harvey, it is difficult to square the Wikipedia entry, below, with the constancy of purpose he seems to advocate for others:
2012 Pembrokeshire County Council elections
