Caught in the net

As the Internet munches away at our tired brain-cells it’s interesting to see how politicians are managing not to cope — or better still, how their image-makers are grappling with this dastardly, irrational, technology. This week Patrick Foster, on his TimesOnline site, reported that the British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown had silenced his YouTube critics by disabling “viewer comments” on the Downing Street YouTube portal. 

The issue that caused such angst was Brown’s appearance on his YouTube site trying to hose down a voter reaction to a scandal involving Labour ministers and their government-paid expenses. One minister, the Home Secretary, Jacki Smith, was mauled when it turned out that her husband had ticked-up porno films on his wife’s government credit card. British MPs’ have also been exposed for claiming 2nd-home allowances under murky circumstances. Naughty! 

Patrick Foster’s Online site reported, “Gordon Brown’s YouTube message on MPs’ expenses has been watched only 4000…