“Politics is a rough old trade”, John Major noted in his concession speech in 1997. I suppose it comes with the territory of being a politician, you put your name out there and you should be willing to take some flak from the public. Now, this is not a piece defending politicians I have to stress. I read dozens of news stories everyday and lament the missed opportunities and failures of leadership that we often see on our TV screens. …
Paul Mason’s disillusion with Twitter (and Facebook) is palpable. The reason? They are becoming sodden with trolls. A CNBC documentary claimed 70% of Twitter users check their timeline within three minutes of waking up. This, in my household, would be considered slow. Among journalists Twitter has replaced “the wires”: all you have to do is follow someone you know is at the frontline of a particular story and you have not just eyewitness reports but usually corroboration, or adjustment, within seconds. …
