Sunday, March 04, 2007
The perils of the interweb
When you use the interweb as much as I do it is important that you become aware of the dangers that it poses to your political and personal credibility. Every word needs to be scrutinised and a certain amount of self-censorship needs to be exercised. That includes not making up stories so as to look cool to your mates.
This is a lesson that Wales youngest Councillor, Chris Chapman, has learnt the hard way. Fortunately, for him he is only 18 and so can pass off his faux pas as a youthful indiscretion. He will recover sufficiently to build a political career for himself if that is what he wants and if he takes the project seriously enough over the next few years.
Although I am in favour of 16 years olds being able to vote and of lowering the age at which people can stand for election, there is the need for the occasional reality check. That includes more elderly politicians not setting young candidates up to be knocked down by their rivals. The problem with youthful proteges is that they can sometimes go bad, as I know from my own experiences in nurturing young politicians in the past.
It is nice for any party to acquire a better image by attracting young people to stand for positions of responsibility and it certainly warms the soul to be able to point to somebody who is bucking the trend of youthful apathy, but the downside of all this is that they are still young and liable to make the same sort of mistakes as others of their age group. It is also the case that often their political views remain incompletely formed and that as they mature they start to view the world differently. It is at that point that they may well go off in a different direction, leaving their former mentors high and dry.
It is probably best therefore if young politicians are not held up as some sort of model citizen or ground-breaking exemplar until they have at least had a chance to prove themselves. Otherwise large dollops of egg may well be served up and as Tory Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan will know, that is not good for the complexion.
This is a lesson that Wales youngest Councillor, Chris Chapman, has learnt the hard way. Fortunately, for him he is only 18 and so can pass off his faux pas as a youthful indiscretion. He will recover sufficiently to build a political career for himself if that is what he wants and if he takes the project seriously enough over the next few years.
Although I am in favour of 16 years olds being able to vote and of lowering the age at which people can stand for election, there is the need for the occasional reality check. That includes more elderly politicians not setting young candidates up to be knocked down by their rivals. The problem with youthful proteges is that they can sometimes go bad, as I know from my own experiences in nurturing young politicians in the past.
It is nice for any party to acquire a better image by attracting young people to stand for positions of responsibility and it certainly warms the soul to be able to point to somebody who is bucking the trend of youthful apathy, but the downside of all this is that they are still young and liable to make the same sort of mistakes as others of their age group. It is also the case that often their political views remain incompletely formed and that as they mature they start to view the world differently. It is at that point that they may well go off in a different direction, leaving their former mentors high and dry.
It is probably best therefore if young politicians are not held up as some sort of model citizen or ground-breaking exemplar until they have at least had a chance to prove themselves. Otherwise large dollops of egg may well be served up and as Tory Shadow Welsh Secretary Cheryl Gillan will know, that is not good for the complexion.
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We have happened upon the Tory life-cycle. Yes, Tory “brains” go through a life cycle all of their own making …
The Teen Tory
At this point in the Tory’s life cycle what passes for a Tory brain can be characterized as the functional equivalent of a Mexican jumping bean (aka Tories powered by brincadores). The brincadores powered Tory brain will test (or test-fire) any water (or petrol) to find votes or to look cool as evidenced by Chris Chapman - Wales' youngest Tory Councillor, who at 19 ragged on about drugs and stealing to look 'cool'.
Tories powered by brincadores exaggerate a lot as illustrated by Chapman who now would have you believe he only took painkillers for an injured shoulder and nicked sweets from his cousin.
When the moths in the brincadores powered Teen brain hatch out and fly-off (thankfully at night) the Teen-Tory enters the next stage of its life cycle.
To be continued … but only if David Cameron confirms or disaffirms claims that he was disciplined for smoking cannabis while at Eaton “public” school.
Dr Christopher - I never took "that drug" - Wood
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The Teen Tory
At this point in the Tory’s life cycle what passes for a Tory brain can be characterized as the functional equivalent of a Mexican jumping bean (aka Tories powered by brincadores). The brincadores powered Tory brain will test (or test-fire) any water (or petrol) to find votes or to look cool as evidenced by Chris Chapman - Wales' youngest Tory Councillor, who at 19 ragged on about drugs and stealing to look 'cool'.
Tories powered by brincadores exaggerate a lot as illustrated by Chapman who now would have you believe he only took painkillers for an injured shoulder and nicked sweets from his cousin.
When the moths in the brincadores powered Teen brain hatch out and fly-off (thankfully at night) the Teen-Tory enters the next stage of its life cycle.
To be continued … but only if David Cameron confirms or disaffirms claims that he was disciplined for smoking cannabis while at Eaton “public” school.
Dr Christopher - I never took "that drug" - Wood
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