House of Comments

15: Bullying in the Workplace

Tracey Cheetham and Iain Dale join us to talk about the events of politics and the blogosphere over the past week.

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We chatted about:

• Gordon Brown has been accused of bullying civil servants by Andrew Rawnsley. Do we believe Rawnsley’s accusations, and has the ensuing political battle been necessary, or has it diminished everybody involved?
• Bloggers may be able to apply for lobby passes previously only available to professional journalists – but do bloggers need or even want them?
• Sir Nicholas Winterton’s ill-advised remarks about first class train fares have caused the Tory party some discomfort over the past week – has he let slip that the Tories haven’t changed as much as they say they have?
• Finally, Mark is standing in a council by-election this week – we wish him luck

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14: Simon Singh, Libel Reform, Joanne Cash and Twitter Outrage

This week we’re joined again by Allen Green, writer of the Jack of Kent blog and convenor of Westminster Skeptics, and by Bill Jones, Professor of Politics at Liverpool Hope University and author of Skipper.

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We talked about:

• Next week, Science writer Simon Singh’s case will be heard by the Court of Appeal. Singh was sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association after accusing the BCA of promoting ‘bogus’ treatments. The Singh case brings up a number of issues with English libel law, as detailed at the libelreform.org website
• Joanne Cash recently resigned and then was re-instated as the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Westminster North. Is this a sign of Conservative Headquarters’ tightening grip over local parties, and are they underestimating the ‘Turnip Taliban’?
• We tend to elect MPs based on their ability to campaign, not their ability to run a government. Tony Blair’s time in office seemed particularly affected by a lack of ability to ‘execute’. Could it be that we’ve got this all backwards?
• Finally, there’s been a rash of ‘Twitter Outrages’ over the past week, the biggest concerning an ill-advised remark on David Wright MP’s Twitter account. Are we to expect similar dramas more often over the next few months, and should anyone care?

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13: What Difference Can Political Blogging Make?

This week we were joined by Mark Pack, co-editor of Lib Dem Voice.

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We talked about what difference the political blogosphere can make, what the relationship between blogging and newspapers might look like in the future, and whether party-political bloggers are watching their words in the election run-up.

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12: On Northern Ireland

This week Mick Fealty of Slugger O’Toole joined us to talk about recent political events.

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We talked about:

• Mick has been extensively covering the scandal caused by Iris Robinson, wife of First Minister Peter Robison, and the affair she had. He gave us an overview of the history and the impact of the resulting political crisis.
• David Cameron and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson have had a few problems in Northern Ireland recently as well.
• Gordon Brown recently announced that the Labour Party would introduce the Alternative Vote electoral system if they were successful at the next election – is this a needed reform, or is it just playing politics?

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