Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Blogging for Wales
Leighton Andrews has an interesting viewpoint on Welsh Assembly bloggers, albeit one that is slanted towards his particular prejudices. I think that it is widely accepted that despite concerted efforts by Labour bloggers to get their act together that, with one or two exceptions, they are still trailing the other two parties in the use of this medium.
One of Leighton's misconceptions is that there is a clear difference between those bloggers who represent constituencies and those who are regional members: for constituency members, the constituency side is more important than the general political commentary, and that shows in our posts.
Regional members such as myself do engage with local issues in the same way as constituency members, the difference is that we work on a wider front and so may not have the same ability to deal with each issue in the same depth.
Labour have consistently sought to misrepresent the work of regional members, to the point of even seeking to gerrymander the electoral system so as to try and afford some protection to Labour constituency AMs. I consider Leighton's comments to form part of the background noise created by his party so as to try and justify that change.
Update: Leighton has just e-mailed me across the chamber to say that this post is quite grumpy. He may be right. I have a cold and am not feeling 100%. To make it worse I have to make three speeches in the chamber today.
Leighton says that he was not trying to do down regional members this time. He was simply saying that inevitably if you are a constituency AM you are more likely to be concerned about local issues in your blogging. I do not totally accept that for the reasons outlined above. However, what I should add is that Leighton and I may have different objectives for our respective blogs and that could account for the point he is making.
I try to use my blog to put across wider political views, to entertain wherever possible and as a campaigning resource. It is not meant to reflect my work as a constituency representative. I would suggest that this is the difference between the two blogs rather than the way that we do our jobs.
One of Leighton's misconceptions is that there is a clear difference between those bloggers who represent constituencies and those who are regional members: for constituency members, the constituency side is more important than the general political commentary, and that shows in our posts.
Regional members such as myself do engage with local issues in the same way as constituency members, the difference is that we work on a wider front and so may not have the same ability to deal with each issue in the same depth.
Labour have consistently sought to misrepresent the work of regional members, to the point of even seeking to gerrymander the electoral system so as to try and afford some protection to Labour constituency AMs. I consider Leighton's comments to form part of the background noise created by his party so as to try and justify that change.
Update: Leighton has just e-mailed me across the chamber to say that this post is quite grumpy. He may be right. I have a cold and am not feeling 100%. To make it worse I have to make three speeches in the chamber today.
Leighton says that he was not trying to do down regional members this time. He was simply saying that inevitably if you are a constituency AM you are more likely to be concerned about local issues in your blogging. I do not totally accept that for the reasons outlined above. However, what I should add is that Leighton and I may have different objectives for our respective blogs and that could account for the point he is making.
I try to use my blog to put across wider political views, to entertain wherever possible and as a campaigning resource. It is not meant to reflect my work as a constituency representative. I would suggest that this is the difference between the two blogs rather than the way that we do our jobs.
Comments:
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"Labour have consistently sought to misrepresent the work of regional members, to the point of even seeking to gerrymander the electoral system so as to try and afford some protection to Labour constituency AMs"
With respect, Peter, this is itself a distortion. You might try being a resident in my area, where the Tory regional AM has his office in the constituency, holds 90% of his surgeries here, styles himself as the "local AM" and - surprise! - has stood for the constituency for both the Assembly and Parliament. There are issues surrounding the way in which some regional AMs use their position to target FPTP seats - we should debate that issue, particularly with the voting public, not blindly accuse Labour of gerrymandering.
With respect, Peter, this is itself a distortion. You might try being a resident in my area, where the Tory regional AM has his office in the constituency, holds 90% of his surgeries here, styles himself as the "local AM" and - surprise! - has stood for the constituency for both the Assembly and Parliament. There are issues surrounding the way in which some regional AMs use their position to target FPTP seats - we should debate that issue, particularly with the voting public, not blindly accuse Labour of gerrymandering.
# posted by 
: 3:14 PM
: 3:14 PM
If there is a Regional AM who acts like that I would be surprised. However, he would be one out of 20. Legislating on the basis of the rogue behaviour of one individual is both vindictive and bad legislation.
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