The essence of the modern political interview

"Everyone seems painfully aware that my task as interviewer is to catch him out, to get him to say the wrong thing. Clegg's task, like all politicians, is to rattle off rhetoric, to be evasive and as uncontroversial as possible, and to fill up the tape with unquotable patter."

From Jemima Khan's interview with Nick Clegg in this week's New Statesman

#BBCfail will limit their election reach

The Scottish Election kicked into gear last night as the parties entered the first full week of campaigning following the dissolution of parliament last week. Both the BBC and STV launched election twitter feeds and while STV backed this up with an impressive new election website which integrates video content and a live twitter feed which is far more content rich than BBC Scotland's staid Scottish politics page. But where the BBC will lose out is on Twitter. Because rather than adopting the popular #sp11 hashtag to mark out their election stories, the BBC have gone it alone with one of their own. #sp11 has already been adopted by candidates and political organisations, and has significant use in the Twitter community. For the uninitiated, this is important to the effective use of Twitter, not just to be a happy par of the Twitter family, but because by clicking on the hashtag in a tweet you can follow the wider conversation on the topic. It places your tweets in context, and as part of a wider discussion of an issue. In this case, many Twitter users are already using #sp11, creating a live stream of national and local election news and views from across the country. For news organisations, Twitter presents an opportunity to drive traffic to your website for more in-depth coverage of an issue, gaining you viewers and readers. So, rather than join in this established discussion on Twitter, BBC Scotland has chosen to adopt their own hashtag, #sp2011. Although it's not their own. It's also heavily used by fans of French Canadian singer Seb Lefebvre So if you're looking for occasional updates from the Scottish election campaign from a single news source, alongside very, very regular updates of how Seb Lefebvre's album is going down with a group of VERY EXCITED French Canadians I'd suggest following #sp2011. For those of us who want to keep up to date with the Election, keep using #sp11. #bbcfail, as they say on Twitter. UPDATE: BBC just tweeted to say they are adopting #sp11. Welcome back to the Twitter community!

Scotland's Top Political Tweeters

In January this year I put together a post containing a list of the top Scottish political tweeters. 

Thanks to Total Politics' Blog awards, lists are back in vogue, and so I thought that it would be a good time to revisit the issue. It's been a busy 9 months in politics, and I wanted to see how usage and take up of Twitter had changed over this time, just ahead of the return of the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments after their summer break. 


There are a couple of notable changes in the last 9 months. 

There has been significant growth in the number of Twitter followers engaged with Scottish political figures since the beginning of 2010. The Top 10 in January had a total of around 12 thousand followers, while the updated list has over 24 thousand, a significant increase. 


Secondly, the top tweeters from the SNP  list and the second placed tweeter from the Tories have dropped out this particular race. Jeff Breslin (aka SNP Tactical Voting)  is no longer eligible as he's moved on to pastures new, while the Conservative's former Westminster candidate Alberto Costa's Twitter account has been discontinued. In there place there have been a number of new entries, in particular from MPs who stood for election esrlier this year. 

The rankings below are based on the number of followers on the afternoon of Saturday 4th September 2010. I've considered accounts which have a broadly political outlook, and are based in, or mostly about, Scotland. The number in brackets are the number of followers each user has at the time I checked. Those which didn't make the list last time round are marked as (NEW). I've compiled each party list on the basis of what I understand the general politics of each account to be.

All the twits below (and many, many more) feature in my Scottish Politics list which you can find on my Twitter page.

+++UPDATED+++
I've now added Kristofer Keane to the Greens' list and Lawrence Mills to the Labour list. Sorry for the omissions.

SNP

1. SNP Official 1233 (456)

2. Angus Robertson MP 661 (NEW)

3. Osama Saeed 521 (296) 
4. Subrosa 493 (325)  ++SEE COMMENTS BELOW+++
5. Holyrood Patter 449 (343)

Scottish Labour

1.Tom Harris MP 5226 (2848)

2. Douglas Alexander MP 4700 (NEW)
3. Eric Joyce MP 2057 (1156)
4. Lawrence Mills 1706 (NEW) +++UPDATED+++
5. Scottish Labour 1514 (859)

6. Jim Murphy MP 1433 (NEW) 

Scottish Liberal Democrats

1. Jo Swinson MP 4039 (2672)

2. Charles Kennedy MP 2776 (NEW) 

3. Danny Alexander MP 2406 (NEW)
4. Andy Reeves 1494 (1016)
5. Caron Lindsay 1301 (802)

Scottish Conservatives

1. David Mundell MP 978 (622)

2. Iain McGill 893 (NEW) 

3. David McLetchie MSP 253 (NEW) 

4. Iain Gibson 226 (NEW)
5. Ross Thomson 163 (114)

Scottish Greens

1. Patrick Harvie MSP 1091 (708)

2. James McKenzie 909 (526)

3. Kate Joester 744 (455)
4. Kristofer Keane 581 (NEW) +++UPDATED+++

5. Chas Booth 544 (359) 

6. Cowrin 491 (NEW)

Scottish Media

1. HolyroodDaily 1249 (345)

2. Newsnight Scotland 941 (NEW) 

3. Joan McAlpine 876 (401)
4. Severin Carrell 699 (283)
5. Torquil Crichton 680 (338)

Which makes the final Top Ten list:

1.     Tom Harris MP                      5226    (2848)

2.      Douglas Alexander MP           4700    (NEW)

3.      Jo Swinson MP                    4039    (2672)

4.     Charles Kennedy MP              2776    (NEW) 

5.      Danny Alexander MP             2406    (NEW)

6.      Eric Joyce MP                      2057    (1156)

7.      Scottish Labour                    1514    (859)

8.      Andy Reeves                        1494    (1016)

9.      Jim Murphy MP                      1433    (NEW) 

10.   Caron Lindsay                       1301    (802)

Discuss. 


(I may have missed someone out. I’m sorry if I have, so if you leave me a comment, send me a tweet or DM I’ll happily update the list.)

A beginners guide to political tweeting

It took me a while to put together my list of Top Scottish Political Tweeters this week. While I was going through them, a few stood out as good, some were not good, and a few were just plain ugly.

So with that in mind, here's my unasked for advice to potential (or the large number of lapsed) Scottish political tweeters.

First - the basics. My top tips for political tweeters who are starting out are:

• Tweet often, at least once or twice a day.
• If in doubt, make your first tweet about what you did/are doing today, and your second one your view on the big issue of the day.
• Follow others to learn (but don’t just follow people you agree with
• DON'T TWEET IN CAPITAL LETTERS. SERIOUSLY

Still thinking about it, but not sure why you should bother?

Using Twitter can be like gaining super human hearing – you can pick up everything that is said about you or the things that matter to you. With a couple of clicks you can overhear individuals praising your latest policy, moaning about poor services or just expressing their opinions on the big issues of the day.

This is the sort of information that political parties (and private companies and organisations) pay huge sums of cash for and it's yours for free just by typing your name/your party's name/today's issue into the search box on Twitter, or using a free service like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite.

If you get stuck or want more information, Mashable’s guide to Twitter is clear and informative, especially for beginners.

The other main objection is the good old “What if I say something stupid/unpopular and everyone found out and wouldn't this be terrible?” argument. Well, you're right. But if you just try to be a grown up about it all you should be OK.

Think before you tweet. I know we all sometimes think stuff in the blissful haven of our own minds that if we said it out loud would make us sound weird or get us in trouble. Being real or authentic isn't the same as being crass or stupid. So just say it out loud before you tweet. (Or pretend to say it out loud if you're on the bus, etc.) This will definately help prevent disaster.

Happy Tweeting.

Who's Who in Scottish Political Tweetery

Both Tweetminster and Iain Dale have recently put together their own analysis of Twitter use in UK politics.

But who’s who in the Scottish Twittersphere?

Take up of twitter by elected politicians is still relatively low, while the number of regular users is smaller again. This is reflected in the fact that Iain Dale's UK lists of the Top 20 Labour and Conservative Tweeters only contains one Scottish-based entry - Tom Harris MP.

So with no ado, here's my back of a fag packet analyis of Who's Who in Scottish political tweetery. The rankings are based on the number of followers on the 27th Jan. The number in brackets are the number of followers at the time I checked.

All the twits below (and many, many more) feature in my Scottish Politics list which you can find on my Twitter page.

UPDATED: thanks to James, I've revised the Green and Media lists:

SNP

1. SNP Tactical Voting (575) 2. SNP Official (456) 3. Holyrood Patter (343) 4. Subrosa (325) 5. Osama Saeed (296)

Scottish Labour

1.Tom Harris MP (2848) 2. Eric Joyce MP (1156) 3. Lord George Foulkes MSP (859) 4. Scottish Labour (859) 5. Kezia Dugdale (815)

Scottish Liberal Democrats

1. Jo Swinson MP (2672) 2. Andy Reeves (1016) 3. Stephen Glenn (893) 4. Caron Lindsay (802) 5. Willie Rennie MP (495)

Scottish Conservatives

1. David Mundell MP (622) 2. Alberto Costa (597) 3. Ross Thomson (114)

4. Cameron Rose (81) 5. Richard Cook (66)

Scottish Greens

1.NaomiMC (761)

2. Patrick Harvie MSP (708)

3. James McKenzie (526)

4. Kate Joester (455)

5. Adam Ramsey (381)

Scottish Media

1. Joan McAlpine (401)

2. HolyroodDaily (345) 3. Torquil Crichton (338) 4. The Steamie (302) 5. Severin Carrell (283)

And last but not least...

Scottish Government (1068)

Which makes the final Top Ten list, by my reckoning:

1. Tom Harris MP (2848)

2. Jo Swinson MP (2672)

3. Eric Joyce MP (1156)

4. Andy Reeves (1016)

5. Stephen Glenn (893)

6. Lord George Foulkes MSP (859)

7. Scottish Labour (859)

8. Kezia Dugdale (815)

9. Caron Lindsay (802)

10. NaomiMC (761)

(I may have missed someone out. I’m sorry if I have, so if you leave me a comment or send me a tweet or DM I’ll happily update the list.)

Are you a film addict?

Film Addict takes the top 250 films on IMDB and quizzes you on how many you've seen. I scored a reasonably respectable 45.6%.  Compare your score.

(thanks to Jason)

Yes, He Did!

President-Elect Barack Obama's speech last night in Chicago. 

The picture that speaks a thousand words (and 250 billion dollars)

(from Boing Boing)

Presidential Debates 1.0

This week see the final of three televised debates between Barack Obama and John McCain ahead of the US Presidential Election on November 6th. Obama has shaded the two events so far, although McCain has had a couple of moments in each that would give his support something to hang onto. With previous research suggesting that many US voters watch all these events before finally deciding who to vote for, Thursday will be vital to both candidates. The fact remains though that the candidate that all politicians should aspire to be is Bill Clinton. It’s not just a matter of his politics, because as this paper published in the Scientific American sets out, he was a master of communication to a degree unsurpassed by any other living politician. Having an impressive natural ability is one thing, but using this to its full potential by having an eye for detail and a commitment to preparation is simply extraordinary. To understand greatness in most fields of life is understand that most of the single actions of great people are easily understood, but the greatness comes from an ability to put them all together and have an understanding of the entire context of your work and how individual actions contribute to it. I’ve had the honour to see Clinton once in person, when he was at Westminster at an event with Nelson Mandela and Tony Blair. I was outside on the rope line with a huddle of devotees ranging from cleaners to junior Ministers, and there was a real sense of excitement about their appearance together. Blair, as usual, was charismatic and radiant, and Mandela, even though he was by this point an elderly man who needed a little assistance to his car, Clinton had the presence of a real superstar. The fact that he worked on this type of presentation over and above employing his natural abilities is why he’s the greatest politician of his generation.

FrankenBurger

This is just scary.  

The burger on the left is 12 years old. 

(pic from bestwellnessconsultant.com)