Adrian McMenamin is just the sort of cocky New Labour apparatchik I can't stand. I've never met him, and I'm sure he's really a very nice guy, but he gives the impression of being an irritating little - well, I'm sure you can complete the sentence. He used to run a tawdry little website called HateMyTory until, realising that no one ever read it, transformed it into something called Transpero. No, I don't know what it means. And judging from the number of comments on his blog no one reads Tempero either.
His latest entry HERE is crowing over the fact that the 10 Downing Street website (he used to work there, you know) gets more hits that Guido, me or ConservativeHome. God, that's a shock, isn;t it? Well, it is actually because until Downing Street launched its petitions gimmick, my blog had a bigger reach than the Downing Street website - as did Guido and ConservativeHome.
Surely it ought to give McMenamin pause for thought that three blogs run by three individuals at no cost get more traffic than the Downing Street website which costs hundreds of thousands per year to run - well, they did until last week anyway.
34 comments:
It's hardly a sign of popularity that people are streaming onto the Downing Street site to heap abuse on the government. Hardly a KPI is it? Personally, I haven't visited yet.
It's just because of the timing. Everybody likes to watch a trainwreck.
And you're right about the petitions gimmick; everyone loves to hear themselves talk, too. Now all they need is quizzes ("What former PM are you?") and a few karaoke YouTube vids and it'll go viral.
BTW dat be one ugly website. Are they using the same designer as the BBC perchance?
Have you read this rubbish about the voluntary code for blogs? I've put together a couple of logos that people can put on their blogs if they want a voluntary code free zone. You can find them here
Why no mention of the loans debacle today? Is it because North Norfolk Tories had a few late declared donations? I think we should be told.
You forgot to mention that No 10 Downing streets message board was taken over a few years ago by some conspirators (A BBC IR35 complainer and I) and when we had established control and had a lot of people reading that message board via my servers they turned it off.
They probably can't even spell blog!
Juggling ice cream, fox hunting and Iraq is neither big nor clever in traffic terms.
What a bunch of C-words.
Anonymous at 12.50 - I have been tied up with many other things today. Normal service will resume tomorrow. And as for North Norfolk Conservatives, I have no idea what they have declared late. As you know, it has been nothing to do with me for 18 months now.
The thing is, Iain, the public have no idea that you're running the country....
(there's many a word etc)
Typical... when the boys get together all they do is boast about size.
Iain - the money North Norfolk Tories failed to declare with money given by Michael Ashcroft at the time you were their candidate.
They should have declared it at the time and didn't.
So yes - I think it is reasonable to ask what you knew and what care you took to ensure the party where you were standing were following the rules.
The 10 Downing Street website is a .gov website, so is paid for from the public purse.
Other than sections on PM history and the building, it looks like a publicly-funded advert for Labour. All it's missing is the Labour rose.
What's the status of the Downing Street Website - it has a .gov host name, so it shouldn't be promoting the Labour Party - right?
So what exactly is boundry between Labour Party and Government promotion?
Iain:
Maybe the reason the Downing Street website costs more to run is because they actually bother to check their facts. HateMyTory.com is still up - it's had 10,000's hits. Transpero is something different. Duh.
For someone who has never met Adrian McMenamin - you claim to know an awful lot about him, like where he used to work - are you sure you're right about that as well?
In Chester, the City Council Admistration are trying to stand up to the blogging tide and have submitted the following motion to Full Council this evening:-
'The following motion is proposed by Councillor Paul Roberts (Leader of Lib Dem Group) and seconded by Councillors John Price MBE (Leader of Labour Group)and Douglas Haynes (Leader of Independent 'Group').
" Council notes with concern the practice of local Conservatives of establishing websites to promote their political agenda, which are unethical in that they:
(1) Are headed in a way which would lead innocent "visitors" to believe they are official or non-political, and
(2) Present unsubstantiated (and often untrue) comments about other
councillors as fact.
Council therefore calls on all City council members to immediately take all actions
possible to ensure that all political websites:
(1) clearly state the party or organisation whose interests they seek to promote and
(2) Name the person responsible for the content, and
(3) Avoid personal comments about other Councillors unless these are:
(a) About their performance as councillors, and
(b) Meet the ethical standards expected by the Standards Board for
England ".'
How dare the local Conservatives setup websites to promote their political agenda!
PS I understand that the website that they are complaining about is wikipedia!!!! It's no wonder the Tories run circles around the other parties in the internet.
Call that a blog, McMiniMe?
I could have sworn I saw tumbleweed blow across the screen, as the wind howled and the mission bell clanged.
Surprised you've never met him. Part of his job used to consist of attending the Tory Conference on behalf of NuLab and running round the press room instantly rebutting anything your guys said about them.
Adrian McMenamin is actually very nice. He's just very partisan.
How can pm.gov.uk be classified as 'user generated content' and thus leading the 'user generated content revolution in the UK'?
Trying to think of an analogy and the best I can come up with is it's like Arsenal beating West Ham for years, and then West Ham beating Arsenal with one fluky result and claiming that they are now leading the London based clubs in the chase for the title! ;)
Most of the 10 Downing St traffic increase is down to the fact that most of the readers of this and Guido's blog have visited to sign the petition calling on Blair to juggle ice-cream, on the grounds that if he's not going to resign he might as well provide some entertainment.
So the c*nts shouldn't crow too much.
'
Sehr geEhrter Iain
If No 10 Downing Street's Blog has for the moment overtaken you & Senor Guido (which is not admitted), this must be largely because it has so many transient Visitors from your & Guido's Blogs
These Visitors are temporary & are only using it as an opportunity to register Complaints about this tired, threadbare Government which is so past its sell-by-date
Keep up the good & (for your so many Supporters) informative & entertaining Arbeit
Your obedient servant etc und
Alles Gute
G E
Mark, Happy to answer. As you know, the Agent and Treasurer are responsible for making returns to the Electoral Commission. I, as the candidate, was not. I do recall asking on two occasions if the requisite returns had been made as I couldn't see anything on the Electoral Commission website.
However, before you start making party political points out of this you will also know that your own Party has been late in submitting returns too, so let's not get over excited, shall we?!
Do you know Iain all Labour can do is try and blame the Tories for everything and it is pathetic.
They have got more to answer for than any other government in living memory, so come off it and start answering the questions and start putting ministers in the front line to do that.Starting with Gordon Brown.
I love the comment..."only because everyone is petitioning the PM to eff off!". Quite.
OMG, why don't you both just get your dicks out and measure them?
PS I understand that the website that they are complaining about is wikipedia!!!! It's no wonder the Tories run circles around the other parties in the internet
Mmm, local council nobodies writing articles about themselves on wikipedia is a tad sad, and they usually get deleted as vanity pieces on non-notables anyway...
Weird site- nothing interesting on it at all. And I thought the Labour community website was Labour Home?
Andy's distinguished skills continue from an already very low base....
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/01/30/new_labours_internet_dirty_tricks/
Correct link is
Link to the Register
That's ok Iain; I promise not to get any more excited about the Tory failure to declare donations that helped your campaigning than you get about other party funding stories :-)
Perhaps you could point out that Guido and yourself have been giving free publicity to the Downing Street website. Also it has been featured on the BBC site, unsurprisingly.
Perhaps you should start a 'petition' section on your own blog, Iain ?
niki - you are looking lovely for a girl your age !
JimTheChimp: What the fcuk do you know? Fcuk all by the sounds of it.
Adrian is very highly regarded in "Government circles".
Stop making stuff up, and post in your real name.
Heh! A cursory glance at the petitions online on the 10 Downing Street website show a massive bias AGAINST the Government so most of the visitors to the website are only going there to register their distrust, hatred or just mild opposition to the Blair regime.
In fact the most popular petition (nearly 12,000 signatures) is against the illiberal and uneforceable hunting ban! And still the Blairite spinners try to claim the web traffic as a victory!
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