The candidates may be on their well deserved holidays (although with Eden Project talks by Miliband Jnr and constant communications by Team EdB the campaigns feeds are as busy as ever) but those of us with important voting decisions to make cannot ease up on the ever engrossing task of research. So, I took advantage of an hour long hole in my busy schedule (between dropping A off at a birthday party and taking her to the doctors - it wouldn't be the holidays without some infectious ailment)to multitask - catching up with the Archers and looking at the candidate's websites. First off Alice and Chris got married! In Vegas! Secondly it turns out website researching is so dull I needed the distraction of the Archers to keep me at the computer.
They are all so slick - good communications training comes as standard with this crop of wannabe leaders and their young, enthusiastic army of volunteers can put together good multi media whilst ordering a hot skinny macchiato. Every website urges us to follow them on Twitter(complete with the latest 140 character pearls of wisdom) and Facebook (you have still not responded to my friend request David!), join Labour and, of course, Donate. They want our money - and our time but most importantly our money. Don't they know that we are heading back for the double dip faster than Call-me-Dave's heading for his next diplomatic row and gambling £25 on a candidate who might not win is £25 that might be better spent on wine to numb the latest news headlines? The communications-savviness may explain why they are all so bland. I got no real idea who the candidates were and what they stood for apart from a fairer deal natch, but although the bastard Tories and lap dog Liberals may be disintegrating society faster than you can say "come on old chap", really candidates you had 13 years to sort all these things out and I hate to point this out but you didn't.
First off Andy Burnham at www.andy4leader.com. I do like Andy Burnham but couldn't help sniggering at the name, I could imagine A coming up with something similar in the playground. It's all very clean though with a nice picture and campaign messages clearly displayed "Reconnecting Labour putting the heart back into the people’s party”. Nice messages though not the snappiest slogan I ever heard - and makes me think a little of a cosy Sunday night drama set somewhere in the Dales. Andy is cleverly playing the anti-elitest card and positioning himself as the outsider and One of Us, for instance he wants payment for interns and to ensure all internships are advertised although I can't help pessimistically thinking that the elite will still find ways of favouring their own. Reading his blog I was treated to a dull selection of endorsements and articles sadly akin to reading the Council's self-congratulatory newssheet and there was no sense of him at all.
Next I looked at Diane. Who has also gone with the "4leader" web address. Her website kicks straight in with a movie which as I was still on the Archer's omnibus made her sound like a very loud background character in the Bull. I didn't actually hear what she was saying as I was too busy tutting over Will's jealously and devoutly hoping the writers aren't going to bore us with another Will Grundy storyline. The site is stylish and the most individual of the five with red slashes on a grey background and loads of really good photos but I didn't find it that userfriendly with text hard to read. When I found her campaign message five out of the first six lines begin with "I". Which I find offputting. I know, I know they have to sell themselves to us but it comes across as a little narcissistic. At least the blog is in the first person but unfortuantely it is more a series of defensive aruements, a little humour would have gone a long way although she does label call-me-Dave a Bully.
I found it really hard to find Ed Ball's leadership site and found myself on his constituency one which leads with things to do over summer holidays, he didn't mention canvassing and hustings, nor driving in a campervan through Boston but it was still a nice touch. Finally I managed to link through to edballs4labour.org.uk where I was quite disconcerted by his bizarre coronation st type logo. The blog is by his (very committed, they are Twitter fiends)team and again very article driven leaving no sense of him apart from the campaign message although I was amused by the “Ed said” and “Ask Ed” buttons at the top.
Miliband Jnr doesn't have a new website, he is using his own. He (or his evangelical team) is very comfortable with social media and it shows with his Facebnook page shown on the site along with Twitter feeds and lots of talk about his "innovative text conversations". I haven't signed up for these, I feel harassed enough by Twitter and now Facebook but am intrigued. Again the Blog is a series of articles and I was quite horrified to find a plea for £25 at the bottom of the page I read (skimmed through). People are very pro-Ed but his website gave me no reason why.
Last but not least Miliband Snr although by now I had had it with platitudes and was having to restrain myself from restarting one of my Facebook farms (8 months cold turkey but I still get tempted every day). Not surprisingly he has the best website (sign of all the money he has) with loads going on visually such as lots of photos. It felt really interactive with a Blog that was written in the first person and not just a series of lectures and sermons - not laugh out loud funny but human at least. He wants us to fundraise, with dinner parties (can you imagine inviting the Free School neighbours for a nice political debate over some Sauvignon Blanc and Kettle Chips?) and there was a very serious blog by a woman who had done exactly that with cocktails and Cheese Jack Straws and Gordon Brownies. Seriously.
Ithought it was Miliband v Miliband but now I am seriously wondering whether a. Andy Burnham can stand up to call-me-Dave and perform at PMQ and b. Is Ed B too tarnished by his association with and renunciation of Gordon (who I love, turning on Gordon is not favourably looked upon). Because maybe, just maybe, they could be my 1 and 2. Could they?
No comments:
Post a Comment