Over the last couple of months there have many left-wing bloggers who have rued the left’s inability to mimic the perceived success of Conservative bloggers such as Guido Fawkes and Iain Dale. Mike Ion wrote a stirring piece back in September, which rather reminded me of a similar article I wrote back in July, in that it seeks to highlight the division and absence of discipline in the leftwing blogosphere. Yet, the more I think about it, the more I think we’re stronger than we think.
For a start, Guido shouldn’t be mistaken for a commentator or an activist. He’s a muckraker. He has great contacts and a salivating, committed readership. It works, for now. Most of Guido’s readership are gossip-loving Labour-hating Tories, many of whom do not share his Libertarian tendencies, so when the Tories next gain power, one wonders whether the site will remain as relevant. Will Guido turn on the inevitable Tory sleaze? And will his readership stomach it? Guido himself knows the lifespan of the Guido Fawkes model is finite.
The other darling of the rightwing blogosphere is Iain Dale. Dale is a different fish altogether. He’s an insider. And while he seems a thoroughly decent and genuine chap (for a Tory), he’s still an affront to the maverick nature of the medium. Blogging can create a dialogue between politicos and the public, but ultimately, it’s at its best, when it’s a voice for political dissent, not the musings of an ‘on-message’ A-Lister.
The right are enjoying a brief period of unity; now issues such as immigration and Europe have temporarily been put on the backburner. But these poisonous boils are still heaving below the surface, and there is no evidence yet, that Cameron has the style or political skill of Blair, to hold a naturally fractious party together. If the leftwing blogosphere really wanted to be useful, they should work tirelessly to lance these boils and expose the dangerous unresolved differences that still simmer under the Cameroonian gloss.
One commentator on Ion’s post said, “The truth is, none of us are good enough or have the time!†Well the first part of that statement is rubbish. We have some genuinely great talent on the left; it’s just that no one has yet emerged as the frontrunner, and those who have shown the ambition, are either careerists who are too close to the party or too lightweight. It’s only a matter of time until one blog steals the march (my money is on Bob Piper). The second part of the statement is equally incorrect. Dale is consistent, as is Guido, but they hardly sit at their keyboards all day. Dale has various commercial responsibilities (specially now) and Guido posts, on average, about three times a day. I have a full time job and a young family, yet tygerland is updated several times a day. If you’re committed, you find the time.
The left should stop crying into its collective pint and get out there and do the business. We have a frustrating party, which is obsessed with playing to the tune of the Daily Mail and up to its knees in an unpopular war, but it’s still a damn site better than returning to Tory rule. Stop whinging and make a difference.
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Absolutely right!
Your point about Guido’s blog’s lifespan is something that hadn’t even occured to me.
I’ve been thinking about deleting my “The Glass House” blog for a while. I’ve gotten out of the habit of updating it. But, having read your post (and out of an urge to set Iain Dale right about a few things today) I’ve decided to try and get it back on track.
Stick with it glass. It took me an age to get any readers. I was blogging in obscurity for almost a year. Also, try and blog as often as you can, at least three times a week. But it doesn’t have to be everyday.
guido has stated that his blog will expire in 2 years time.
“Blogging can create a dialogue between politicos and the public, but ultimately, it’s at its best, when it’s a voice for political dissent, not the musings of an ‘on-message’ A-Lister.”
.
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.it is at its best when it creates an engagement, a dialogue.
“If the leftwing blogosphere really wanted to be useful, they should”
a) engage others
b) put their side of the story.
“I have a full time job and a young family, yet tygerland is updated several times a day. If you’re committed, you find the time.”
yeah but.
you love writing aaron, you aspire to be a writer. blogging may be a good career move fro you too. This points may not apply to other bloggers, well perhaps not to the same extent. you also have help.
“The left should stop crying into its collective pint and get out there and do the business. ”
i agree.
“Stop whinging and make a difference.”
i agree again. in terms of steps forward, I would love to see a forum/networking event/get-together for those who wish to make a name for themselves, on the blogging scene.
it will turn out to be synergistic. this I am certain of.
ps - I would also like to see the likes of (labour equivalent of) Stephan Shakespeare step forward….in order to both act as a catalyst for and also captalise on the terrific opportunities that exist.
Aaron - I think you make some really good points. I agree that too many left wing blogs are either too lightweight or too close to the party line (I may be guilty on both counts). However I do think that we need to encourage our elected members to make better use of the blog to egage with supporters and heir local electorate.
However I do think that we need to encourage our elected members to make better use of the blog to egage with supporters and heir local electorate.
this is an excellent point mike. what, in your opinion, is best way of achieving this.
a thought that I have is - along the line of theyworkforyou.com, writetothem.com - to have a mechanism whereby collectively we can get the MPs to
(a)blog
(b)blog more effectively.
This is a big opportunity for labour to engage with the voters and I believe that it will miss it at its peril.
Excuse the shameless plug but I wrote about this issue in this post a while back…
Well put. Two points from me:
For ‘Labour’ sites: I think blogging in power is different to, and perhaps harder than, blogging in opposition. Much easier for us to be seen as disunited.
We need to keep the humour up if we are to engage a wider readership (and assuming we want to reach out to others beyond ourselves). Dale and Fawkes do this well. There are some on the left that are successful too (Recess Monkey), but we need a few more.
“We need to keep the humour up “…nah. just be yourself.
“I think blogging in power is different to, and perhaps harder than, blogging in opposition.”
I do not agree. just need to clear about your goals.
“Much easier for us to be seen as disunited.”
possibly but be united when it matters. under the surface, the opposition is no less disunited. all parties are a broad church.
Mike,
Lightweight is not something I’d level at you.
This is an important, but, alas, a different matter. Blogging is a crucial tool for politicians, but good blogs are rarely written by those tied to a political machine. No credibility without independence.
Traffic,
They are trying, but the business of governance and, shall we say, legal concerns, are diverting them from this crucial opportunity. However Labour bloggers do not have to wait to be led by the party. Our most valuable asset, our talent, is free. B4L is the proof of this.
Hughes,
Always consider tygerland to be a medium for self-promotion. If it achieves nothing else for you, let it achieve that.
Juvenal,
I agree, as I stated here, “Government leads to expectation and then disenfranchisement.”
What an interesting thread of comments.
Hughes - yes it is a shameless plug but I think we can let you off as what you actually wrote was sound.
Juvenal and Tyger - you are right to stress the point that being a pro-governemnt political blogger in the present (possibly any) climate is a real challenege. However I still believe that we need to encourage elected politicians (and those that aspire to be so) to use blogs to better engage with their constituents. MPs and councillors who are able to get almost instant feedback on local, regional or national issues are much more likely to be in a position to shape policy and to help meet the needs and aspirations of those they purport to represent.
Traffic - what if we (the Labour party) were to make it an expectation that all new candidates (at all levels) establish local blogs once selected?
“Traffic - what if we (the Labour party) were to make it an expectation that all new candidates (at all levels) establish local blogs once selected? ”
would be a start.
what do yu mean by all new candidtes at all levels. please would you illustrate with an example. thanks.
I assume we’re talking about councillors and MP’s.
A blog can do much of the work of a surgery, but it can, I fear, drain the energy of people too. It will never replace one-to-one surgeries, but it may compliment them.
think those on this form can help the party get it’s act together, even if it is just on the blogging front.
I looked at John denham site/blog. am sure that even a capable person like him could do with some help/support.
I suggest a bloggers collective. with the sole purpose of getting the party luminaries
a) blog
b) blog effectively.
I nominate the commentators of this blog thread to be the founder members (of this collective).
what says you (all).
traffic - yes I do mean MPs and councillors and yes I do see a blog as complimenting as opposed to replacing surgeries and the like. If used well it can help politicians focus on local issues (literally - issues that relate to specific streets or estates)and engage at a very local level.
“Bloggers can interpret the world in different ways; the point however is to change it”
Hat-tip : Marx at Highgate
I know it is hard for you lot to understand, but just because I think Gordon Brown must be thwarted and destroyed doesn’t make me a Conservative.
Don’t get me wrong, some of my best friends are Conservatives… but you know, I wouldn’t want to…
I think the problem for the left is that you are boring, too earnest and highbrow. Humour is cruel, not PC.
I intend to keep going for at least two more years until after the election. The blog will no doubt continue - Wonkette still cojntinues without her - it is crap now, but hey…
Guido, thanks for stopping by.
As I said, you are a libertarian, maybe not a Tory. However, I maintain you are of the Right - Tory or Not. I don’t think tygerland is short of humour either - although recently it has become a little staid, I agree.
My little ditty about you and Ros Taylor is a worthy mention…
http://tygerland.net/2006/10/04/much-ado-about-blogging/
Or try my review of Labour’s kicking last May
http://tygerland.net/2006/05/05/blue-thursday/
or even one of your wonderful commentaries on PMQ.
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Guido deos not have the skill to match you aaron.
as an aside, I would say that Guido is slowing down. some may even say that he is in terminal decline. he is not cutting edge anymore.
“humour is cruel”.
no.
you are cruel, guido.
humour is a neutral…it can be used to achieve whatever. as you jolly well know.
as a broadbrush politics, in this country, is tribal. and Guido is from the Tory tribe. like it or not.
Is Guido claiming that he has voted Labour or Lib Dem in the past? (Which is what “I’m not a conservative” usually means). If that’s the case - tyger, you’ve got a scoop!
he claims to have tried to join the liberals, in the past. having said that there is such a thing as a natural home for all of us, and of the two parties of government, it has certainly not been the labour party for young Guido.
Oddly enough I agree with Guido one one point.I like blogs with a bit of humour as well as politics, huge polemics usually have me clicking the exit button way before the end.I also think we (Labour bloggers) have bought into the self perpetuating myth that we are getting tonked by the Tories in the blogging stakes .There are at least a dozen labour blogs I check out daily, other than Dale and occasionally Conservativehome none of the Tory blogs have caught my attention, and I have looked.
Can’t say as I disagree with a lot of what you’re saying - although I should not that a big part of the problem facing left-wing blogs at present is that the protracted ’succession’ is, as Redpesto beautifully put it in the comments at MoT, ’sucking all the air out of the room’.
It has to be said that quite a significant number of, especially, newer political blogs are notable only for being desperately anodyne - there are exceptions but in many cases the blogs I visit regularly (on all sides) are the one’s that have been around for quite some time (Bob Piper, Bloggerheads, Chicken Yoghurt, Tim Worstall, Devil’s Kitchen, Mr Eugenides and the like).
What makes them interesting is not that I agree with their opinions but that they all offer an ‘authentic voice’. The blogs I read are the one’s that leave me feeling that there’s a real person writing away on the other side of the screen and, especially, one that thinks for themselves.
To my mind, the best bloggers around are both open and genuine in their political views to the extent that if they see their own side doing something dumb, they’ll happily say so - many are no less partisan for that, but they are at least intelligent enough not to try and defend the indefensible.
To get that from elected representatives is a big ask unless they very deliberate stay out of the usual Councillor/MP blog of using their blog as an adjunct to their political office, largely because the further up the political food chain they get, the more likely it is that an off-the-cuff comment will get jumped on by the MSM as proof of a split or internal dissention in the party.
If we want politicians to blog honestly and openly then we have to start pushing for changes in the wider political culture and, especially, in the way the media reports on politics and politicians; changes that allow room for open discussion and disagreement without it being turned into a faux political ‘crisis’ just because MP A has said expressed a personal opinion that doesn’t exactly follow the official party line.
In that respect, outright political tribalism is the enemy in all this because it suppresses legitimate political debate, and the MSM is main agents because of the manner in which they buy wholesale into that crude tribalism in order to advance their own interests and boost circulation figures.
The very best thing that could happen in terms of wider political culture would be for the likes of Express or the Daily Mail to kick off one of their usual spittle-flecked rants only for all the main parties to come together and tell them to piss off and stop being so childish.
I doubt that’ll happen any time soon, which I guess is where us bloggers come in, but to keep that spirit alive we need to ensure that our collective space doesn’t get overtaken by the same crude tribalism that invests (and infests) the MSM.
To look at in terms of role models, the question we have to ask is who should be our influences, Hunter Thomson & PJ O’Rourke or Richard Littlejohn & Mad Mel.
Personally I’ll take HST and PJ anyday…