Is twitter facilitating a popular take-over?

Six months ago I wrote this. It's about how twitter's two-way communication format is essentially a pain in the arse for politicians, since it allows us ordinary people to talk back to those who wish we'd just shut up and listen to them. And that this is a good, possibly a great thing.

How they thought it (the internet) would be a fantastic way of communicating 'at' us but it turns out it also gives us a voice in return.

What it means is that it's a two-way street that enables us to have a say; to call our MPs to account not once every five years or so, but every hour of every day. It is (excuse my French) fucking brilliant in that regard.  It changes everything.

I have blogged about the disconnect between those who supposedly work for us and their delivery of what we actually want several times - more here.

Essentially what social media does is it allows us to scrutinise our MPs on a local basis but also the government on a national basis, hourly, or even minute-by-minute on what they are doing in our name.

It can create a groundswell of opinion. It remembers promises, past misdemeanors. It is not a random interview following which one can await the passage of time to make people forget. It is a medium that remembers, reminds, examines and will not let you escape from past fuck-ups.

Past Promises Broken.

I'm hearing lots of stuff on twitter: That without a current Westminster MP UKIP is getting more media coverage than it should. I'm hearing that UKIP is a racist party as the media and the 'establishment' tries to portray it in that way in what seems to me like an increasingly desperate attempt to discredit UKIP.

I'm hearing that ordinary people (like me) are increasingly coming around to Mr Farage's viewpoint. Whether they're traditional Labour voters or disgruntled Thatcherite tories. As they begin to wake up to the fact that Labour is not about 'workers' any more; that Lib Dems want to give away our status as an independent nation and that Dave is a 'common purpose' europhile and would give away our nationhood to a flawed and communist EU.

I think and fervently hope that voters will place their 'tick'  against the UKIP candidate's name on May 22nd. I think it will be an earthquake.

That is a long way from making real gains in a general election though.

But it's a start. I'm tempted to say that UKIP could be driving a real change in UK politics and that it could make a real difference in 2015. That might be going too far given the long-established machinery of the current parties, but who knows?

Thanks for reading.