Sexist bloggers and the farce of Assembly negotiations

Sexist blogging has reared its ugly head over the past couple of weeks. The chief recipient was Telegraph hack Melissa Kite after writing a blog on the Spectator website attacking the Tory blogosphere.

The responses she got were straight out of a builders handbook, as she divulged in her Telegraph.co.uk article on Sunday: “All I want to say is that a week ago I speculated about the shadow cabinet. Tory blogger-boys responded by speculating about whether they would like to sleep with me. The same people are online right now demanding that David Cameron change his policies. I now speculate that the Tory leader knows exactly what he is dealing with and will completely ignore them.”

On 18 Doughty Street, Shane Greer pontificates on the dark presence of sexism in the male-dominated blogosphere. He concludes: “The question then is this, what is it about the blogosphere that leads some men to act in a manner they would, presumably, never countenance in the real world?”

One of the people whose reaction to Melissa’s original article attracted vitriolic sexist comments, Iain Dale, recently reopened the debate.

With the Westminster and Scottish leadership issues all sewn up, the Assembly negotiations are far from complete.

The Lib Dems walked out of the expected ‘rainbow coalition’ negotiations on Wednesday night. Leading Welsh blogger and Lib Dem AM Peter Black wrote: “What happened last night was a surprise. I fully expected to see the National Executive endorse the package and refer it to Conference. That they did not do so was something that nobody foresaw.” He then goes on to offer some insight into the Lib Dems reasons.

While Bethan Jenkins, one of Plaid’s hardline Gang of Four, said: “The Lib dems have some serious issues to address- leadership being its main priority. I must say, having seen how the Lib dems have acted, a Rainbow coalition would have been far from stable from the outset. I don't think Peter Black could stomach giving Mike German a Ministerial position, which is one of the reasons, (or the only reason?) why I believe that they are in this mess right now.”

In an amusing sketch paralleling the trials and tribulations of the negotiations with Goldie Locks and the Three Bears, Glyn Davies concludes: “At this point Hans Christian Andersen abandoned this fairy story as being so utterly preposterous and unbelievable that no-one would ever believe it or read it. So it was never published until today.”

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.

How to anger Lib Dems

Simon Jenkins used his column in Wednesday’s Guardian to opine: “It is surely time for the Lib Dems to fold their tent and go.”

Jenkins’s charge, that Lib Dems are “both hopeless and nice”, was fiercely contested by key Lib Dem bloggers. As if to rebut this vignette, they responded in a fashion that was anything but.

Cicero describes the attack as a “bleat of pain from that section of the British establishment that no longer understands the modern world.”

He goes on to say: “The fact that Simon Jenkins rant was published in the The Guardian- the most consistently anti-Liberal newspaper in the UK- simply reminds us that revolutionaries have few friends amongst the self-appointed philosopher kings of the left, or right.”

While Stephen Tall asks: “What is Simon Jenkins for?”: “Mr Jenkins may feel this compromise results in ‘a susurration of platitudes’. Certainly that’s the risk, one which applies to all other parties. The alternative is to sit on the sidelines, safely pontificating from the berth of a well-upholstered desk in Faringdon Road or Wapping, and never troubling to get your hands dirty.”

But for Russell Eagling the comments have become a call for arms: “This means the Lib Dem's leadership of the third party needs to evangelise a coherent Lib Dem vision - hammering home a liberal vision of 21st century Britain.”

The debate challenges the traditional bipolar view of politics. In this world of free market socialists and hug-a-hoodie Tories do you sometimes wonder which side of the political fence you sit? Well help is at hand. A Very British Dude has a foolproof system of sorting your Rights from your Lefts: “Here's a working definition: If you hear the phrase ‘Social Justice’ and you feel the urge to lay about the speaker with a claw-hammer, you're right-wing. If you think you know what the phrase ‘Social Justice’ means, and use it to explain your philosophy you're a lefty (and should be killed with a claw-hammer).

“Who said political semantics was tricky.”

With the creation of the Orwellian-sounding Ministry of Justice this week it may be of some use to be able to spot an “agent”. Fortunately, Andrew Brown provides an insight into their wallets.

Meanwhile, Dizzy Thinks is also suspicious of this new Ministry. For what reason, he asks, could they possibly be using an outdated server? The plot thickens.

For some reason, John Reid chose Thursday to announce the cost of ID cards would be increasing. He complemented this with an article on Guardian Unlimited’s Comment is Free section. But after seeing the volume of negative feedback posts the article recieved, Reid must be wishing the comment wasn’t so free – the funds raised could have filled the plug in the spiraling costs for ID cards.

Oh, and apparently Tony Blair has announced his departure date.

This also appears at www.newstatesman.com/blogs/best-of-the-politics-blogs.