Thursday, September 07, 2006

Blogging in Bromley

I am on the train back to RTW having spent a very nice evening speaking to Bromley and Chislehurst Conservatives about internet campaigning and blogging.

The session lasted a good 90 minutes and the questions kept on coming so I hope they enjoyed it and found it useful. I know at least a couple of the councillors there are going to start their own blogs. One said she was looking forward to losing her blog virginity! Let's hope it won't be too painful for her...

I'm getting quite a few speaking invitations from Tory Associations at the moment - and indeed other organisations. I rather enjoy them but I have got to stop saying yes to everything. As my partner constantly tells me, 'a week does only have seven days, you know.'

Now for something which will have all you right wingers reaching for the smelling salts. Tomorrow I am having lunch with Yasmin Alibhai Brown. She looovvves blogs. Not!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lunch with Yasmin Alibhai Brown !

Iain - you would go to the opening of an envelope if there was a drink in it !

Anonymous said...

What I said Iain was that I lost my blog virginity to you in January and one always retains a soft spot for the first.

Iain Dale said...

Andrew, i don't drink!

Ruth, I stand corrected. I should be more careful about virginity comments, shouldn't I?!

Anonymous said...

And there was me thinking that Cllr Alexa Michael might finally have lost her virginity...

Scipio said...

Hey, Yasmin is Ok you know - a bit mad, but all right on a 1-2-1! She has many fascinating stories to tell about Africa, and is well worth an evening of anyone's time.

Anonymous said...

Yasmin Alibhai Brown ... a wave of nausea just hit.

Anonymous said...

Adrian Yelland, she couldn't fascinate me if she could tell me the exact spot where the treasure of the Sierra Madre was buried.

Nope.

Scipio said...

Verity - do you ever have a nice word to say about anyone?

Anonymous said...

Iain not at all sure about that banner seeking advertisers for your blog that appeared within this item. Whilst it is unarguable that genuine opinion formers do indeed read this blog I'm really not at all convinced that Adam Rikitts is actually one of them. I daresay he does read it and he may well have caused a few opinions, especially about the A list, but helped to form them.....?

Anonymous said...

And so you finally highlight the blog problem: too many of them and no-one will read them. Dilution rarely increases strength.

Good thing you were one of the first ... at least you have momentum.

Serf said...

The Yazzmonster!!!!!

Iain you have my sympathy. If there is anything wrong with lunch she will blame it on imperialism.

Rigger Mortice said...

roiggers tip;
take some sandpaper,sit on it and wriggle when you need to take your mind off things

The Leadership Blogger said...

Get ready to do a lot of apologising for stuff you couldn't have affected.

Croydonian said...

Don't forget the garlic and a crucifix.

Anonymous said...

There is a wiki about Yasmin if you found out anything juicy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasmin_Alibhai-Brown

Anonymous said...

I hope Iain, that you can succeed where so many have obviously failed and manage to puncture her monstrous ego.

Anonymous said...

Who is Yasmin Alibhai Brown?

Nosemonkey said...

Could you ask her if she saw this little piece? I enjoyed writing that...

CityUnslicker said...

For the sake of polite conversationa and general bon viveur I would suggest that you don't mention Isreal or the Middle East at all at your lunch.

Plenty to discuss in the world of blogging, MSM and Westminster gossip!

Anonymous said...

Iain, you might ask Yasmin A B why members of ethnic minorities who are lucky enough to get a public forum, almost always choose to talk/write about racial problems.

If they chose now and then to cover the theatre, fashion,or sport,say, people may start to listen and think, "that's interesting, that's an interesting person."

Huh, even as I write this, I know that the above subjects would almost inevitably include a racial angle.

They can't all have chips. Are editors just as responsible?

Anonymous said...

What ? That ghastly woman ! I havn't forgiven her for her performance on QT 2 days after 9/11.
Give her a cup of poison from me.
How could you have lunch with someone who writes for the British-hating Indy !

Anonymous said...

There is something utterly infuriating about Yasmin Alibhai Brown when she turns up on the TV (I suppose she may be different in real life but I have difficulty believing it).

I think it's her supercilious air of being--what she one called herself on TV--a Muslim intellectual... who comes across as ineffably stupid.

And to add insult to injury, when it's the BBC she's on, I'm paying her!

Anonymous said...

I'm sure my wide was safe in your hands Iain!

Anonymous said...

A Bromley councillor's blog - wow, can't wait.

Coming next - the thrill of paint drying.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you would kindly get hold of some tiger whiskers (possibly from a whole tigerskin rug including head?), chop them up finely and have the chef mix them with her food. Then she would die in agony from a perforated intestine. (I believe this is how Indian monarchs disposed of unwanted wives.)

Nor more than that perfectly wretched high priestess of multiculturalism deserves.

Anonymous said...

Cllrs. should not talk about their wides in a public forum like this - lowers the tone.

Anonymous said...

Iain - why don't you post online where you are going to be, as well as commenting on it after you've been there? I don't live anywhere near Bromley, but if I did, I would have quite liked to hear you speak about blogging. Just a suggestion ...

Anonymous said...

I once wrote an In Touch newsletter for a local by-election and referred to our candidate as:

"Dave, and his wide Mary, have lived locally for 20 years"

Sadly the error wasn't picked-up during proof reading and 2,200 leaflets were printed and delivered.

Three years later the poor woman is still called "wide Mary" by all her friends in the village.