The Election Should Be Called Today

Labour polling 2% behind the Tories? Conservative insiders talking about how their campaign isn’t gelling? Unprepared nationalist parties?

I reiterate my post from last week – if Gordon Brown doesn’t call the election today or on Monday, it may be the biggest political mistake of his career.

It’s not what I want, but it certainly is the most politically sensible thing for Gordon to do.

On Anonymity

I value my anonymity.

Although as readers and followers of my Twitter rantings may have noticed, I don’t actually place that high a price on it. After all, in the last few weeks I’ve mentioned the fact that I attend Edinburgh University in some capacity, was previously involved in student politics at Glasgow University, have lived in the constituency of Mike Rumbles and Sir Robert Smith and currently live in Alastair Darling’s constituency. I strongly implied where I was sitting and discussed who I was talking to at the Scottish Social Media Dinner. I also occasionally tweet the same thing from both my Hythlodaeus twitter account and my personal twitter account, which share at least half a dozen followers.

While those combined factors would still make it hard to identify me, they do not make it impossible. There are many ways one could go about it. The most obvious way would be to check the details of who owns the Hythlodaeus.com domain name. This can be done in a matter of minutes at no cost. While my domain name information is registered in the name of my hosting provider in order to prevent this, such inquiries have led to the downfall of controversial websites before now. Other possible methods could include tracing my IP address from comments left on other blogs, attempting to exploit bugs in the WordPress software to gain access to my FTP server in the hope that I have other websites or personal information stored and if you had enough time, googling my tweets in the hope I tweet something on both my accounts at the same time. In an extreme case, one could even go to Glasgow University and check the alumni records, although I’m hardly worth the effort.

So why do I do it?

Well, unlike Tom Harris, who spoke at the Social Media Dinner about why he dislikes internet anonymity, I don’t see it as a threat to civil debate. Those who follow politicos on Twitter will probably know what I mean when I say that people still get heated, uncivil and irrational when they use their real name. I’ve seen some amazing examples of this, often involving poster-boys and -girls from the main parties, such as Harry “Tory Bear” Cole, Iain Dale and “Bevanite” Ellie Gellard. It’s worth noting that all three  have made media appearances to discuss their parties, thrown some pretty nasty public insults and been accused of being incapable of civil debate.

I believe that my anonymity is empowering. I feel less bound by expectations. I feel less bound to defend the SNP and more able to be openly critical of some of it’s decisions. I also feel better able to acknowledge the occasional aspects of Labour and Scottish Tory policy which I agree with. I feel less bound to be confrontational and more able to focus on consensual politics.

I’m not the only one who finds this. Christopher Poole, who founded one of the largest anonymous and disreputable websites on the internet has this to say:

With the anonymous system, you’ve got a place where people are uninhibited. … You’re getting very truthful conversation. And you judge somebody by the content of what they’re saying and not their username, not their registration date

Source: CNN. 4Chan founder defends online pranks.

I’m happy to admit that 4Chan is hardly the best example of empowerment through anonymity, causing as much anarchic chaos as it does good, but they are just the latest in a long line of individuals and groups to use anonymity as a tool. Voltaire, Alexander Hamilton and James Matherson all published anonymous works in the 18th century, in the 19th century many left-wing works were published anonymously to avoid persecution, while the 20th century saw beat generation and hippie counter-culture figures and groups adopt anonymity. There’s nothing new going on here and nothing to be threatened by.

Blogs like myself, Subrosa and Lallands Peat Worrier simply carry on a long tradition of civilised and anonymous debate and discourse. There are those who do not, instead choosing to spread bile, but equally there are those who spread bile and hatred using their own names.

Take advantage of the anonymity of the author, and judge on content, not identity. Take advantage of anonymity and say something you wouldn’t say otherwise.

Tower Block of Commons & The Role of the MP

Tower Block of Commons isn’t a particularly groundbreaking piece of television. After all, there have been TV series about deprived council estates and the lives of politicians before now. It could even be debated that it’s not particularly good televison, effectively functioning as ‘poverty tourism’ for middle-class Channel 4 viewers. I wouldn’t agree with that particular assessment, but it is a criticism which I’ve heard levelled at the series. P58DNVMVTV3Z

It does, however, serve as an excellent example of what MPs should be doing and should be seen to be doing.

MPs are not and should not be solely legislative creatures, sitting in the Chamber, wining and dining in London. If anything MPs should be spending the majority of their time in their constituencies, listening to their constituents and helping them. Holding surgeries and answering letters just isn’t enough. Like the four MPs in Tower Block of Commons, MPs need to get out and seek to affect real change in local areas, tackling central government and local councils in the name of their constituents. I suspect that many MPs either don’t know or don’t care that being seen to be publicly helping their communities rather then making token appearances and sending out glossy PR puff a in election years would help them keep their seats.

This could even be taken further. Abolishing the Whip in the House of Commons and creating an expectation that MPs represent the views of their constituents rather then their own opinions or  the views of their party would help create a better type of politics in the UK.

It may be a rather old fashioned idea, but maybe in the wake of the expenses scandal, we should be returning to the idea of voting for a person rather then a party.

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For reference, I have lived in three constituencies in the last ten years. Despite being on the electoral register and occasionally writing to MPs on relevant issues, I have received exactly one communiqué which was more then just a party line. That letter was from the Chancellor’s constituency office in response to an inquiry about a specific asylum case and the lack of current coherent policy, putting the Honourable Members for Glasgow North and Aberdeenshire West & Kincardineshire to shame. I have also found it easier to meet two First Ministers, a leader of the opposition, two Liberal Democrat leaders and three Ministers then any of my constituency MPs.

This isn’t how things should work.

Whose Death Matters Most?

The Mail on Sunday is reporting that the deaths of several royals will no longer automatically justify the interruption of programming.

As a republican, I welcome this measure. However, I mainly welcome it because while the deaths of Princes Harry, Edward, Andrew, Princess Anne and the Duchess of Cornwall will no doubt be very painful for their families, they will have little or no effect on myself or the majority of the UK population. Thus, there is little point interrupting schedules and creating mass distraction. Not least because it will be on Sky News, BBC News 24 and other new channels within minutes anyway.

What I am slightly concerned about is that while the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles and Prince William are still deemed important enough to automatically justify interruption of the schedules, the Prime Minister and the President of the United States aren’t.

I grudgingly agree that the role of the Queen and her immediate successors is great enough to justify an immediate announcement. However, in real terms, the deaths of the Prime Minister or the US President are likely to have a greater effect on people in the UK as a whole. After all, we’d be seeing PM Harman or Osborne or President Biden coming to office, signalling massive changes in direction from their predecessors.

I hope that the list is largely there for procedures sake anyway, and that in the event of the PM dying in office, it would be the priority of the BBC to get the announcement out as soon as possible.

Would A PPC Get Away With This Now?

Winnie Ewing’s autobiography is a great read. It’s packed full of wonderful anecdotes about both her best and worst times in politics and life in general.

This quote, from when Winnie was campaigning for her second Westminster seat seemed to resonate with me, not least because there are more and more stories about Labour and Tory PPCs making jokes and being hauled up by their opposite numbers for it.

The campaign was hard and serious. When the actual election was announced in early 1974 we started to hold meetings everywhere, large or small and we always had packed halls. I recall most of them, but in particular one held on a Saturday afternoon in Elgin Town Hall. A young man got up and said that he was English and serving in the RAF. What would happen to him if the SNP won? I was wary of such questions, which were usually planted by the Tories, so I started by merely correcting him: ‘When we win,’ I said. But then I got bolder as he seemed to be genuine. I carried on: ‘We will pass a law. Those we have caught and we like we will keep. For example, you will not be free to go back to England again.’ There was a pause then a gale of laughter and the young man gave me the thumbs-up.

- Winnie Ewing, Stop the World (2004)

I wonder if she (or anyone else) would get away with that today? Somehow, I think not.

It would be all over Twitter, the Sun, the Mail and so on, probably with headlines like “SNP in Anti-English Jibe” or maybe “SNP: We plan to keep English talent”. No doubt it would provide a week’s worth of news at least.