Once bitten
It’s been a bit quiet round here recently, hasn’t it? Call me naive, but I wasn’t expecting to attract the attention I have after my posts about the international participation and local e-democracy conference. I know I haven’t done anything wrong, but as has been gently pointed out to me by friends, I have a way with words that rather catches the eye and perhaps got myself into trouble. Don’t write anything you wouldn’t want to see in the Oxford Mail, eh? I’ve not been following my own rules.
However, even if I should have toned it down, I’m still sure that it was the right thing to do to attend, learn as much as I could and publish my thoughts and comments on the trip, positive and negative, as not all people with an interest got to attend.
It’s not a co-incidence, though, that the newspapers only picked up the story when a couple of Tory bloggers started to get interested in me attending - not the Tories or Liberals who attended, but little old Labour me.
It’s not been a nice few days; I was particularly mortified when the guy I buy the newspapers from every morning asked me about the article. So this space may be about to become a bit more considered, a bit more thought-through, and a bit less off-the-cuff. I hope it doesn’t become less interesting as a result, and I shall try to resist the really-quite-currently-tempting possibility of retreating into identikit-politico safe mode. Cheers.
just remember to continue to be yourself. don’t water it down so much that your personality no longer shines through your words.
I’m surprised at you. Cupidity, naivety, both or neither ?
I think every ‘political figure’ who has a blog or in any way tries to be honest about their feelings/thoughts runs into this kind of problem sooner or later. I learnt my lesson when being overly honest about Green chances during the General Election…
It’s a real shame, because as you point out, it means that you start to self-censor…and often become less frank and honest as a result.
Antonia - easier said than done, but ignore the crap and keep it real. However much I disagree with you, I always read your blog - more importantly, I always enjoy reading it.
cheers, stephen
Albert, Matt, Stephen - appreciate your kind words.
Laban - haven’t seen you around here for a while. Naivety, I think.
you wouldn’t be you if you didn’t speak off the cuff or say what you mean and think and that’s why you’re a fab speaker and write interesting and thought provoking thoughts. Consideration before posting will, in most cases, only tighten already cogent political commentary. I say bugger them, the attention and purpose was clearly politically motivated, puerile and games by little boys who dislike strong women in public life.
[...] Recherchiert man ein wenig, so stellt man fest, dass es ihnen später offenbar peinlich war, dass es an die Öffentlichkeit kam – durch die ganz gewöhnliche Presse. Woran man mal wieder sehen kann, wozu die Presse gut ist – sie entlarvt sogar Blogger. [...]
[...] Back to the Blogeressa: She seemed to have some pricks of conscience afterwards - but as all the others, she went with the crowds and enjoyed it. In her blog, she calls herself “naive” - but in my opinion, there are other words for people who act like this – but as English is not my first language, I prefer not to publish it. [...]
I really do feel for you Antonia - it’s not like either Mary or myself hid the fact that we went. I even posted on Ellee Seymour’s blog to even the score up. Nasty experience, but try to forget it - we had a really useful experience.
All the best
Antony
Cheer up Antonia, it will all blow away in a few days
You’ve just dropped another bombshell!
“little old Labour me”
Only kidding - you’re an asset to the political blogging world.
It can be a cruel arena politics, but chin up and you will live to fight another day. So long as you learn to be circumspect without compromising your ideals and aware that there are those out there who are trying to catch us out, you will be fine!
All the best
Paul
Hi Antonia. I guess all publicity is good publicity !
Off topic here, but my mispelling of your name was a witticism which obviously fell on stony ground …
“BUNCE n. British — money or profit. A word dating from the 19th century and almost obsolete by the 1960s, except among street traders and the London underworld. In the late 1980s the word was revived by middle-class users such as alternative comedians in search of colourful synonyms in a climate of financial excesses. Bunce may originally have been a corruption of ‘bonus.’” “The Dictionary of Contemporary Slang” by Tony Thorne (Pantheon Books, New York, 1990).
“British English: A to Zed” by Norman W. Schur (Harper Perennial, New York, 1987) says the American equivalent is “windfall.” And that bunce is informal, “…Originally, just an profit (derived from bonus?) but latterly an unexpected one. It has now gained some currency as a verb, especially in the gerund, buncing, to describe the practice, in retail stores, of sticking new higher-price tags over the original lower-price labels on articles for sale.”
I had no clue that some obscure piece of slang from decades ago meant something to do with getting a windfall. Just thought you were being rude and careless. Glad we’ve cleared that up. Cheers.
Had I been invited, I would have gone.