Apr 23
EJ: @brindy Ah. You tweeted that you did. Were you lying?
exchange between myself and @ericjoyce re: #leadersdebate
Eric Joyce: Gordon Brown was good, and yet serious, tonight.Folk want their pm to be serious; ' 2 boys squabbling at bathtime' .Surely quote of evening.
brindy (me): @ericjoyce you call that serious? it was a cheap shot, especially for saying what you lot get up to in parliament. it's like a playground.
So what I'm getting at here is that if you watch parliament on TV or listen to it on the radio they - as in MPs - act disgracefully. They pepper their speech with false pleasantries and take every opportunity to slag each other off. And how is "2 boys squabbling at bathtime" a serious comment? It just isn't. Obviously these people are going to have heated discussions during this thing. Clegg and Cameron did, Clegg and Brown did, Brown and Cameron did. But only Clegg refrained from throwing in what looked like pre-rehearsed insults made especially for situations that would inevitably rise.
EJ : @brindy Us lot? Like you lot in debt collection agencies? No scope for individuality Your choice.
Thanks Eric! This bit of information, which is wrong I might add, was actually passed to you in a private email / letter.
And I'm not sure what the latter part means anyway. As for individuality the house of commons is like Attack of Clones in suits.
me: @ericjoyce i don't work in a debt collection agency
me: @ericjoyce all i'm saying is, that it is rich to say 'people want serious' when you all act like children in the house.
If you don't believe me just watch parliament on TV or listen to them on the radio. It's frankly embarrassing that our country is run by people who behave like this.
EJ: @brindy Ah. You tweeted that you did. Were you lying?
Nope, I'm no liar and I'm pretty sure I never tweeted that I work for a DCA - people who know me will know that I feel strongly about DCAs, so I felt I had to clarify the situation....
me: @ericjoyce i work for a credit management consultancy - some of our clients happen to be DCAs.
BAH! Would rather not have had laid that out so barely. I guess I should have DM'd him at this point.
EJ: @brindy Fair enough. And i know and respect the difference. Try that in Sun. Shit to generalise about folk, whatever their job.
I had gone to bed by this point. But while I admit I was generalising, I feel it was fair based on what I have seen and heard of MPs behaviour in the house. Note that up to now I had not DM'd him at all within this exchange.
EJ (via DM) : You make your own calls now. It's all real. Unrestricted cynicism is a clear sign of immaturity. No more DMs.
I'm not even sure what this means.
So before the leaders debate I had a pretty low opinion of all politicians and especially the so called leaders. The only party I actively support is the Pirate Party since I believe a party based system is archaic and unfair and the Pirate Party's "single issue" is one I strongly believe in and one I don't believe the Tories or Labour genuinely support.
However, I did have a reasonably high opinion of Eric Joyce. Even though he rarely rebels against the Labour party he rallied well during the #debill debacle, is quite responsive to communication and appears to genuinely be concerned for the Falkirk area. The same cannot be said for the other candidates except for Cllr John McNally who actually works for the council.
This morning, my opinion of Nick Clegg is through the roof. He is clear, consistent, funny yet mature and demonstrates the ability to lead. I am impressed.
My opinions of the other two have not changed - they did not surprise me at all. It was hard to listen to either of them without wondering if basically everything they are saying is lies. They both have little 'ticks' which make them appear untrustworthy, not to mention a great deal of previous record.
And I'm afraid to say my opinion of Eric Joyce has dwindled somewhat too after returning to my twitter client to review last night's exchange.. This is unfortunate as I had already decided to offer my assistance (what little that might be) to whoever is MP for Falkirk after the election. So that's awkward as it is likely to be Mr Joyce who wins, but hopefully we can put this exchange behind us and move on for the benefit of the community.
