Don't Get Fooled Again

Yesterday I wrote about Communities Minister Hazel Blears’ widely publicised attack on political bloggers, in which she claimed that:

There are some informative and entertaining political blogs, including those written by elected councillors. But mostly, political blogs are written by people with a disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy.

Unless and until political blogging adds value to our political culture, by allowing new and disparate voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and despair.

Just as an experiment, and in the spirit of “adding value”, I went over to Hazel Blears’ blog earlyish yesterday and left a fairly friendly comment about the debate that she’s started.

I got a friendly on-screen message back suggesting that the comment would go up within 1 working day of being received. No sign of it yet…

I suppose it’s possible that the comment, despite my best efforts, fell foul of Blears’ decency rules in some way. According to the note on the website, “all comments are subject to approval by Communities and Local Government, as outlined in our terms and conditions“.

If you then click on the link to find out what these “terms and conditions” are, you currently get this message:

Technical problem

Sorry! An error has occured whilst trying to deliver the page to you. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

I can’t think of a more appropriate slogan for the UK government online media experience. Welcome to the future of blogging, New Labour style!

See also: “Blears lays the blame”, “That Hazel Blears Speech”, “Hazel Blears, bloggers and the end of civilisation”,“Hazel Blears, bloggers and professional politics”,”Not Nihilistic, Realistic”

*UPDATE 11/11/08: I’m pleased to say that the comment was published yesterday, with a cordial reply from Hazel Blears.