UK Political Blogging? Bah! Humbug!

Whilst this post has been on my mind for a couple of days, a few thoughts that I exchanged with the two Micks, Hall and Fealty, on Slugger have helped to crystallise it.


The forthcoming election in 2010 will be, it’s generally assumed, the first General Election in the UK when blogs will play a part in influencing the final result; two separate incidents over the last couple of weeks seem to have strengthened that perception, at least in England and Scotland.

Last week, a group of leading Conservative bloggers had a meeting with CCHQ. James McIntyre of the New Statesman has interpreted what took place in a rather different way to the actual participants; his assertion that it was a preemptive damage limitation exercise on the part of the Conservatives’ hierarchy has been hotly disputed by Shane Greer, Tory Bear and others. Still, whatever went on, I believe the Conservatives, for several reasons, have more to fear in the General Election campaign from their own keyboard activists than Labour. The latter are fighting a rearguard action, and rearguard actions tend to be the ones with more cohesion and collective team spirit, whereas the qualities which have brought the Conservatives to pre-eminence in the blogosphere- their diversity, independent thinking and occasional sheer bloody-mindedness are also those which tend to bring party managers out in a rash during election time. I suspect that whilst the two biggies, Dale and Conservative Home will be doing their darnest to keep "on message" "online", the legions following will include more than a few with the propensity to discharge shotgun at foot and although the effect nationwide may be minimal, such self-inflicted injuries most definitely have the potential to influence the result at a local level.

Events in the Scottish political blogosphere have taken a surreal and, at times, disturbing turn over the last few weeks. The "Cybernats", the unrestrained wing of Scottish nationalism online, push the boundaries of legality and good taste right up to and beyond the limit and it's not only the Scottish-based unionist blogs who have suffered at their hands, as both myself and Chekov can readily testify. However, what looks to be the deliberate targeting of nationalist blogs, which has seen one after another either being "taken out" or falling "voluntarily" on their keyboard, creates an uneasy feeling that an attempt is being made to stifle free-speech in one of the few remaining shared spaces in the UK where it still exists. The culling has been ruthless and looks to have been pretty well- coordinated and if anyone doubted its significance, the fact that the first ten minutes of FMQ last week were taken up by the topic should be proof enough that Iain Gray, if no one else, thinks there are votes to be won on this question. With what promises to be a "combative" (if not downright nasty), campaign approaching in Scotland, someone, be it singular or plural, has decided that the SNP is much the weaker with its online activists either eliminated or treading much more cautiously. It’s perhaps only a proxy war which is being fought in the blogs and in the middle-pages of the tabloids and broadsheets but it’s a "war" which is doing nothing to further enhance the overall reputation of blogging in that part of the UK.

So what of the situation here? Will blogs play any part in the upcoming General Election campaign in Northern Ireland? We differ from the rest of the United Kingdom’s political blogosphere in that one site and one site only plays any kind of meaningful role in terms of both influence and breaking news or rumours. Following the big blue whale, Slugger, there are relatively few sprats* floating haphazardly in its wake, these sprats mainly being loyal party members, the type who are also not likely to move too far beyond the legal and good taste comfort-zone. Nobody in the NI blogosphere is likely to suffer the fate of either Wardog or The Universality of Cheese which is obviously not a bad thing; on the other hand (and perhaps kind of contradicting my last paragraph), that lack of edge is also not conducive to a thriving debate forum. In the short-term and certainly before next year’s General Election, I can only see our fortifications being consolidated rather than possibilities or opportunities at pushing the argument forward explored and seized at.

Which brings me finally to Slugger, does it have the potential to influence the forthcoming election? Undoubtedly, although I believe mainly in a negative way. With a couple of exceptions, Slugger’s writers deliver usually not only the first hint of new breaking, but also a sharper analysis of our political scene than anything to be found in our local print or broadcast media. Unfortunately, whilst I don’t believe that analysis delivers one vote either here or there- what appears in the comments-zone may well do. The gossip, innuendo, trolling and "informed" rumours do have the potential to create a momentum of their own which occasionally seeps into the MSM and by extension after that into the electorate at large. So, it’s very much personality and not policy which dominates there and it’s a very rare occasion indeed when that personality is being spoken of in positive terms. It may well be this belief, the belief it should be policy as opposed to personality which should determine our voting preferences is an elitist, old-fashioned one out of keeping with our modern, sound-byte, "5 minutes ago is ancient history" culture- but I don’t think anyone can argue with any sense of conviction that it is a positive way of conducting any kind of worthwhile political debate.

So, in summary...what a positive post to finish the year with! During the next election campaign the UK political blogosphere will be acting mainly in a destructive capacity, attempting to take down opponents, destroy arguments and in the last resort, we will be all playing the solid forward defensive to any attempt to engage in meaningful debate. Since the vast majority of the electorate couldn’t give a hoot to what passes for political discourse online, perhaps it doesn’t matter. Perhaps it’s always been like that anyway, even in those far off pre-internet times. But knowing the amount of time (by the bloggers themselves) and finance (by the parties) being invested online shouldn’t we be seeing something a little more ground-breaking and well...yet, again that word, positive?



*Fellow sprats, please do not feel insulted; without the odd sprat to snack on, even the biggest blue whale would go home a hungry mammal;)