So Andrew Marr has vented his spleen against bloggers of all people. Apparently at the Cheltenham Literary Festival the former BBC Political Editor said that most bloggers are: "bald, cauliflower-nosed, young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting."

As you might expect the internet is now aflame with a backlash of posts hitting back at the comments which are obviously fairly ill thought through and out of touch.

Even his own employer dear old Auntie has for some time seen the advantage of encouraging their most expert commentators, including Marr's successor Nick Robinson, to write blogs giving insightful comment to supplement their broadcasting.

The thing that I'm really wondering though, is why Marr is so irked by the online comentators? Is it because unlike him they are not constrained to a Sunday morning television programme to break political stories and therefore are in a position to run stories on any day of the week, there by scooping the traditional end of the week exclusives.

 

It's one of those days that people talk about afterwards and say, I'll always remember where I was when I heard the news. Nine years ago today, the world changed. Ceremonies are taking place in New York and Washington to mark the anniversary. An unforgivable tragedy, the like of which I hope we never see again.

So it has finally happened then, as expected the UK has its first coalition government since World War 2. David Cameron managed to persuade Nick Clegg that they could find enough common ground between the two parties to be able to happily live together in power. During the past week they have issued a programme for what the coalition plans to do with compromises on both sides. Personally I welcome this new coalition, as it presents a new challenge. For too long politicians have been able to win an election and push on with ill thought through policies and knee jerk schemes which only end up costing more than expected and not delivering what they promised. Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive enough to think that having to share power means there has suddenly been a seismic shift in the way business happens at Westminster. I believe that there will still be some tough challenges for the two leaders, especially in terms of squaring some of the more controversial policy matters with their grassroots supporters. Indeed by signing up to coalition with the Conservatives, it may well have cost them some of their support. I will be watching the developments of this new government with interest and you never know, I might actually blog about it now and then!

So it has finally happened then, as expected the UK has its first coalition government since World War 2. 

David Cameron managed to persuade Nick Clegg that they could find enough common ground between the two parties to be able to happily live together in power. During the past week they have issued a programme for what the coalition plans to do with compromises on both sides.

Personally I welcome this new coalition, as it presents a new challenge. For too long politicians have been able to win an election and push on with ill thought through policies and knee jerk schemes which only end up costing more than expected and not delivering what they promised. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not naive enough to think that having to share power means there has suddenly been a seismic shift in the way business happens at Westminster. I believe that there will still be some tough challenges for the two leaders, especially in terms of squaring some of the more controversial policy matters with their grassroots supporters. Indeed by signing up to coalition with the Conservatives, it may well have cost them some of their support. 

I will be watching the developments of this new government with interest and you never know, I might actually blog about it now and then!

 

So there was a General Election in the UK yesterday and following one of the closest fought campaigns in the past 20 years, the outcome is anything but conclusive. As it currently stands the Conservative Party has 306 seats, the Labour Party has 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats have 57 seats. This means that no one has a majority in order to take control and form a government. 

Since this situation became apparent early this morning, the politicians have been locked into a three way dance, with both of the major parties making overtures to the Liberal Democrats in order to establish if they could form a coalition. To my mind a Lib/Lab pact is the most likely outcome simply because of the similarities between the two. Having said that, David Cameron made a very strong speech this afternoon which was clearly aimed at wooing Nick Clegg. 

From a wider perspective, this is the worst possible outcome. There is already much discussion of the effect that the instability could have on the money markets with the pound falling significantly in value against the dollar over the past few hours. Added to this, I can easily imagine that whoever takes the helm either as a minority government or a coalition will want a proper mandate and end up going back to the people and calling another election in the next few months. 

One of the aspects of an election which often gets forgotten once the results are announced is the massive efforts of all the campaigners up and down the country who put in long hours and many miles of walking to promote their chosen candidate. They should all, regardless of the outcome, be praised for their hard work and enthusiasm 

I have watched the coverage today with interest and remember what it was like to cover an election as a journalist. I have been enormously impressed with the efforts of reporters and presenters who have put in the hours and worked incredibly hard obviously with very little sleep to keep viewers, listeners and readers informed. I hope they all get some time to recover over the next few days. 

 

So there was a General Election in the UK yesterday and following one of the closest fought campaigns in the past 20 years, the outcome is anything but conclusive. As it currently stands the Conservative Party has 306 seats, the Labour Party has 258 seats and the Liberal Democrats have 57 seats. This means that no one has a majority in order to take control and form a government. 

Since this situation became apparent early this morning, the politicians have been locked into a three way dance, with both of the major parties making overtures to the Liberal Democrats in order to establish if they could form a coalition. To my mind a Lib/Lab pact is the most likely outcome simply because of the similarities between the two. Having said that, David Cameron made a very strong speech this afternoon which was clearly aimed at wooing Nick Clegg. 

From a wider perspective, this is the worst possible outcome. There is already much discussion of the effect that the instability could have on the money markets with the pound falling significantly in value against the dollar over the past few hours. Added to this, I can easily imagine that whoever takes the helm either as a minority government or a coalition will want a proper mandate and end up going back to the people and calling another election in the next few months. 

One of the aspects of an election which often gets forgotten once the results are announced is the massive efforts of all the campaigners up and down the country who put in long hours and many miles of walking to promote their chosen candidate. They should all, regardless of the outcome, be praised for their hard work and enthusiasm 

I have watched the coverage today with interest and remember what it was like to cover an election as a journalist. I have been enormously impressed with the efforts of reporters and presenters who have put in the hours and worked incredibly hard obviously with very little sleep to keep viewers, listeners and readers informed. I hope they all get some time to recover over the next few days. 

 

So the worst kept secret in Britain is finally out of the bag as Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace yesterday to ask the Queen for a disillusion of Parliament and to hold a general election on 6 May. The media have been gearing up for the announcement for months. Something which was made obvious by the wall to wall coverage yesterday. So we are now in for a month of hard fought campaigning which will no doubt get acres of coverage. A highlight will be the party leader's TV debates which promise a new element that could have an unexpected effect on the polls. One of the biggest problems at every election is voter apathy. Although turnout increased in 2005 compared to 2001 it was still nowhere near the 70 percent or more seen for previous national polls. With the recent expenses scandal hanging over Westminster like a cloud and many people frustrated at the perceived similarity of the main parties, some voters are probably considering staying at home but I would urge everyone who can to take the time on 6 May to have their say.

So the worst kept secret in Britain is finally out of the bag as Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace yesterday to ask the Queen for a disillusion of Parliament and to hold a general election on 6 May. The media have been gearing up for the announcement for months. Something which was made obvious by the wall to wall coverage yesterday. So we are now in for a month of hard fought campaigning which will no doubt get acres of coverage. A highlight will be the party leader's TV debates which promise a new element that could have an unexpected effect on the polls. One of the biggest problems at every election is voter apathy. Although turnout increased in 2005 compared to 2001 it was still nowhere near the 70 percent or more seen for previous national polls. With the recent expenses scandal hanging over Westminster like a cloud and many people frustrated at the perceived similarity of the main parties, some voters are probably considering staying at home but I would urge everyone who can to take the time on 6 May to have their say.

Nigel Farage attacks the new EU President I watched Question Time last night and one of the guests was the former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage. He got a pretty hostile reaction over a tirade of insults he made about the new EU President, Herman Van Rompoy at the European Parliament earlier this week. The specific question linked the attack by Mr Farage to the bullying accusations made of Gordon Brown. There is no doubt about it, the attack was extremely personal, and even went as far as describing Belgium as "virtually a non-country." Unfortunately, this kind of over the top personal attack seems to be the only kind of coverage we ever see in mainstream news bulletins of the European Parliament and I can't help but wonder if it doesn't leave people thinking that's all that ever happens in Brussels or Strasbourg. I have heard speculation that Mr Farage is attempting to be so over the top and offensive that he gets himself suspended from the European Parliament which would be the perfect publicity vehicle for his attempt to take on the Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow in his Buckingham seat. It does make me wonder though, if he might just have overdone it already.

Nigel Farage attacks the new EU President I watched Question Time last night and one of the guests was the former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage. He got a pretty hostile reaction over a tirade of insults he made about the new EU President, Herman Van Rompoy at the European Parliament earlier this week. The specific question linked the attack by Mr Farage to the bullying accusations made of Gordon Brown. There is no doubt about it, the attack was extremely personal, and even went as far as describing Belgium as "virtually a non-country." Unfortunately, this kind of over the top personal attack seems to be the only kind of coverage we ever see in mainstream news bulletins of the European Parliament and I can't help but wonder if it doesn't leave people thinking that's all that ever happens in Brussels or Strasbourg. I have heard speculation that Mr Farage is attempting to be so over the top and offensive that he gets himself suspended from the European Parliament which would be the perfect publicity vehicle for his attempt to take on the Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow in his Buckingham seat. It does make me wonder though, if he might just have overdone it already.