Until this week.

On Friday, during the Chilcott inquiry, Brown described the decision to go to war in Iraq as “the right decision for the right reasons”. 

As chief cheque signer, he probably didn’t have much choice.  

I’d say that few young people want to become MPs because generally speaking MPs are seen by teens as crusty, out of touch oddballs at worst or chino wearing try hards at best.  I am not sure if this video will help… but social media certainly provides an opportunity for politicians to connect in a more meaningful way with this constituency.

In a great article for The Guardian, Catherine Bennett, writes that (the video)…“gives the impression of an unusually intelligent alien who has made a careful study of human beings, without ever having had the opportunity to meet one.”

Gordon and the Labour Government have since come under fire for 1. announcing the video on YouTube (as opposed to in Parliament) 2. trying to gain political advantage on an issue that effects all MPs and 3.  presenting a proposal that will clearly get voted down.

Oh dear… check it out:

I think some small changes could dramatically improve the video.

I would have had Gordon sitting in his actual (natural) work environment. That would prevent the body sways. It might also be advisable to present this in more of a Q and A format so that its more discursive – YouTube isn’t well suited to speeches.

The Downing Street YouTube channel needs a host – someone to take the audience into the heart of the Government and someone that the audience can relate to.  This host would interview the MPs by asking the questions that the audience want answered. These stage managed presentations don’t feel very authentic at all.

The tone of the expenses video is far too earnest and self important and the randomly interspersed smiles are disconcerting. Gordon has undoubtedly received a lot of training and its not reasonable to expect this stuff to come naturally to everyone but some simple changes could dramatically improve the content.

Comments have been suspended but were initially open, according to Bennett’s article.

In other half-baked YouTube video news…

Last week we had the worldwide President of Dominos Pizza on YouTube responding to the fall out caused by another YouTube video, which was created by two employees in North Carolina.  Dominos received a lot of positive coverage for their handling of the crisis but I felt all of the good work on YouTube was undone by that fact that Mr. Doyle did not respond direct to camera. I reckon he looks well shifty.

The title of the video is unfortunate.

Here is some off-camera action from Gordon Brown this time. More good work undone…

I am living overseas but I think Gordon Brown’s chances of returning the Labour Party to Government in 12 months time are very slim.  Will the Labour Party risk it? I can’t help feeling a bit sorry for the guy and I am definitely on his side of the political spectrum but I sense that there is strong support for change across the country.  Gordon’s tenure has been somewhat tenuous from the start – remember his shall we, shan’t we have an election stumble?

1. Wayward Dominos’ employees in Conover, North Carolina
2. The UK Labour Government’s political smear campaign

I have heard much discussion about the brand and political impact of these unfortunate exposes and lots of experts talking about the need for the victims (or culprits) to engage social media to clean up the mess caused by these indiscretions.

All of this is interesting to a point.

I have heard commentators sprouting the following nonsensical claims; that organisations will withdraw from social media programs as a result of the Dominos experience – in particular. And that Dominos in particular needs to get out there – i.e. into social media – to address the issue. Something that they eventually did.

Let us face the facts.

• Employees in fast food restaurants mess with food.
• Political smear campaigns are as old as politics.

The community is so obsessed with social media at the moment that we are failing to address or consider the underlying and age-old stories and issues here.

Social media has become the story – for everything. Its like a veneer that corporations and institutions can paint over their shoddy and unethical practices to make everything alright.

We’ll quickly move onto the next thing but I doubt that much will change at Dominos or within British politics.

Social media can be a means to an end (i.e. changing stuff) but its not an end in itself.

This has come to light on the eve of the G20 Summit in East London when there is – for once – a strong case for monitoring the comings and goings in the city. More from The Guardian on this story here.

It doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence now does it!

In other news, four political activists were arrested in the West Country for plotting to ‘disrupt’ the G20 Summit. God only knows why they thought it would be a good idea to hold the event in central London.

Just Another 24 Hours for the inside track

Personal freedoms seems to be taking a bit of a battering too.

Britain seems listless. It is struggling to find a new identity and the apparent politico-cultural transformation that has occurred in the US is in stark comparison to an arrogant, out of touch and un-elected leadership in Britain. We’re stuck with two political classes that are yet to truly modernise in a way that seems relevant and compelling to the community and more importantly to the wider world, within which Britain has traditionally enjoyed leadership and great respect.

Vee are vatching you!!

The financial services sector represented a relatively large chunk of the total economy in the UK and Britain is suffering more than others as a result of the current crisis. In October 2008, a bank rescue package totalling pounds500 billion was announced by the British Government. More recently, Gordon Brown’s Government announced plans to print money with a quantitative easing program while The Guardian newspaper investigates the tax gap.

This is rightly a BIG issue in the UK but for many observers the financial crisis is a diversion from a m0re worrying trend.

My Mother has complained about the increasing prevalance of rules and regulations in British society. I remember her citing the example of our local supermarket, which had started to restrict the sale of alcohol to over-30s only. The store had been caught out by a few under-18s and responded in this way to ensure that it would not be caught out again.

CCTV is another cause for concern for many in Britain – as is the British Government’s commitment to data collection. There are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain – approximately one for every 14 people.

This is a theme that has been picked up in the No Agenda podcast. John C. Dvorak is tracking news stories that demonstrate the increasing pervasiveness of the UK Government and the rise of the Nanny state. Here are some headlines and links from the Dvorak Uncensored blog.

It’s laughable but scary. I am always promising more and never delivering but I do intend to pick up on this theme with some follow up posts this week. One will paint a picture relating to the future of technology and another will discuss the medium to long term impact of the Government bail outs on personal freedoms and information in UK and around the world.

Here are the headlines:

• Cops Arrest ‘Terrorist’ Fisherman for Scaring Ducks Away with Laser Pen
• Stasi HQ UK… where your travel details are secretly logged and kept for a decade
• 2 Yr Old Sent ASBO Usually Reserved for Football Hooligan… Does it Really Matter?
• New Law in UK Makes it Illegal to take Pictures of Police
• UK’s New Food Police: Nanny State Sez You WILL Eat Everything On Your Plate

Are you concerned about a reduction in personal freedoms wrapped up as something else, e.g. anti-terrorist legislation?

The sad thing about this approach is that it doesn’t address real issues but instead attempts to deal with problems at a superficial or cosmetic level to give the impression that the Government is in control and relevant when in actual fact the opposite is true.

I’ve been thinking about it for two days so here goes…

I wanted to write about the calls for a boycott of the Olympics opening ceremony in Beijing in August, following the protests by monks in Lhasa, Tibet and the Chinese Government’s heavy handed response.

The boycott crew includes the Prime Minister of Poland, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown (although there seems to be some confusion about this) and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

The US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said:

“I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table.”

These calls feel very opportunistic to me, especially when you consider:

• The explosion of foreign investment in and trade with China. Direct foreign investment has exceeded US$500 billion since 1993.
• The amount of money we spend on Chinese goods. China is now the third largest exporter in the world.
• We’ve known that these Olympics were going to be held in Beijing since 2001.

Lets be clear, these politicians are proposing a symbolic ‘gesture’ as opposed to a meaningful stand i.e. boycotting the games in totality. And this reserve is hardly suprising given China’s wealth and increasing global influence.

Trade would arguably be a more effective lever if our Western leaders genuinely wanted to drive change in China. China was officially announced as a member of the WTO in 2001, the same year that it was awarded the 2008 games.

I am not condoning Chinese treatment of the Tibetan Monks or their support for Sudan and related events in Darfur (show me a high profile politician who is calling for a boycott in relation to the latter). I am arguing that these calls have no real teeth and aren’t the right course of action. If people feel strongly enough – and maybe they should, maybe I should – then the call should be for non-attendance.

Concerns with Chinese human rights policy haven’t prevented years of trade, international collaboration and engagement. The Chinese still have the same attitude to human rights. China isn’t going to change policies over night in response to a few headlines involving Western leaders and spineless threats, especially since the West is complicit in China’s economic development and global advance since Chinese economic reform (including the Open Door policy) in 1978.

The main catalyst for the headlines has been the global torch relay and the associated protests on behalf of Tibet in many of the countries that the torch has passed through. The irony is that the torch itself has a rather dubious past. The idea for the torch relay came from Carl Diem, Adolf Hitler’s Olympic organiser. It first appeared in 1936 for the Berlin games.

What’s my point? My point is that I wish our political leaders were genuine, principled, strong – then we might actually see real change and it would be sooner rather than later.