Today the Conservative leader of Cornwall Council took the bizarre step of banning councillors from communicating on the internet during meetings. A few councillors (lamentably none from MK) tweet during meetings, understandably some tweets criticise the regime and these have caught the attention of Cllr Robertson. I am all in favour of people tweeting from such meetings, it provides an insight into the democratic process. It is interesting for a wide range of people, voters, organisations, political activists and journalists can quickly get the opinions of councillors. Their reactions and thoughts without spin as issues in the chamber are discussed. It also invites users of twitter to challenge the views of councillors and ask for clarification on their views in the chamber or in tweets. The real beauty therefore is that it invites people to witness the democratic process and engage with it, this is a great thing for democracy. Also the ban is rather pointless, meetings are webcast a…