22/03/2012 This Week

Tonight: Join This Week, for the Political Apprentice. In politics,

times are tough and investment hard to come by. Has the Chancellor, Boy

George, done enough to make sure he won't be fired come the next

election? One budding apprentice, author and activist, Owen Jones, is

given the chance to be project manager. I have my doubts that

cutting the top rate of tax will get anyone hired, but I certainly

think it should be George Osborne who gets fired.

The Queen has been doing the top job for 60 years and this week

addressed Parliament. Speaker John Bercow hopes his performance will

keep him out of the boardroom. collide A kalaidescope Queen.

Channel Four's Sarah Smith, is in the girls' team. John Bercow was

revelling in the pageantry this week, he left many MPs wanting to

say "you're fired." And are the rules of the boardroom

very different from the rules of the internet? Top comic tweeter

Dave Gorman guides us through the etiquette of the internet. As far

as I can tell the rules of the internet internet haven't really

been written down yet, we are all just feeling our way. It's my

studio and it's my money. Evenin' all, welcome to This Week. Yes, I

know. I'm still here. I appreciate that last Thursday I caused a bit

of a storm in a Blue Nun wine glass after an untypical spasm of self-

awareness. I concluded that This Week was nothing more than an

amoral vacuum in the dark heart of the BBC1 schedules and announced my

resignation! Some of you even believed it, which only shows how

much of the Blue stuff you'd been necking. I think when I said I was

off to be a runner on the One Show that was a clue it was a spoof but

even if I'd been serious I realise that now is not the time to throw

in the towel; to desert the sinking ship; to do an 'H' from Steps and

walk out on my less talented colleagues! Not with the BBC's

much-loved Director General announcing his departure, which

means his well-paid job is now up for grabs! And so I hereby declare

that the This Week team, if called upon to serve, after a groundswell

of public support would consider on a job-share basis only, putting

their limited creative talents aside, to hold the keys to the BBC

executive bog. Even Diane is prepared to turn her back on the

high-profile glory of the shadow public health team just as long as

the DG's taxi expense account remains. You'd expect nothing less

from the Queen of the Claim. Speaking of those who get paid an

absolute fortune to lord it over everyone else, I'm joined on the

sofa tonight by two of Westminster's most detached

residents. The Grand Poobah and Grand Dame of late night political

chat. I speak, of course, of Alastair Campbell - currently

trending as #rivieragigolo - and our very own #sadmanonatrain,

Michael Trainspotter Portillo. Good evening to both of you. Hello,

Andrew. Moment of the week, Michael? No doubt that my moment of

the week in the sense I will never forget it was the moment of the

attack on the French school. Such horrifying details about the way

these children were murdered in cold blood, such extraordinary evil.

I don't want to draw any political point from it, particularly, even

if the man claims he has political motivations, he's clearly so

deranged as to be quite an exception, doesn't leave to any

broader conclusions, although it seems it may have some effect on

the French election. But you know, when ask you what was the moment of

the week, that was the shot everying -- shattering moment.

was the story, almost overshadowed the Budget at many points.

Alastair? Mine was before that, what I think is the end of the

National Health Service. The Bill finally got through. It's a really

bad moment. I think it's a bad moment for politics as well, I

don't think they had a mandate for it. It's a massive event. Do tkpwu

along with Labour's official line this is privatisation? It's opening

the whole thing up to the market and I think think I think pitting

the bits of the health service against it each which in a way will

be damaging. If in three years... Let's see. You are discredited?

I put in the cuts that are happening, cuts which are having an

impact, politically it's dangerous to the coalition and the Lib Dems

have made a mistake by getting so identified with it. It's certainly

not been a happy experience. think it could be as significant as

the Budget. We shall see. Now, it's been an important week

for Boy George. He delivered the Budget yesterday, or re-announced

it, if you've been reading the papers and it turns out - wait for

it - we're all better off! That's right, Gideon is personally going

to come round and stuff a crisp new fiver in our pockets. Except if

you're an old person, then he'll just kick you in the grannies. But

is the Chancellor's vision for the economy the right one for Britain?

We asked journalist and author, Owen Jones, for his Take of the

week. Hello, is that Gideon? Could I get

a taxi to This Week studios? Great! # The taxman's taken all my...

That's what I call being all in it together. Before the last election

most of us thought that the Tories were the party of the well-off. How

did George Osborne take on this ill-founded prejudice? By handing

most of kaepbt a cheque for �40,000 -- cabinet. Your car, Mr Jones.

Give this man champagne. This is ridiculous. Champagne may be

flowing for some, indeed the average millionaire could afford

�288 bottles with a tax cut given to them by George Osborne.

Thanks. When the average Briton is taking

the biggest hammering in living standards, since the 1920s, have

the Tories just revealed their true colours as the political arm of the

rich? Of course, the Tories will argue

the poor will be better off because Once you take into account real

term cuts to tax credits and benefits, as well as the VAT hike,

whoever has to scrub up after the champagne reception is set to be

worse off than they were before that Clegg-Cameron love-in in the

It's not just the poor being hit. The average Briton is set to be

worse off in 2016 than they were at the turn of the century and all

this because of a crisis that had absolutely nothing to do with while

the beaming rich are being handed tax cuts. How can Labour tap into

this growing sense of injustice? Of course, they only call it class war

when you stand up for the bottom 70%. Stand up for the top 1% and

they call you a moderate. With New Labour's own cosying up to the

wealthy still fresh in the public mind, Ed Miliband will have to draw

a thick line under Labour's own past if anyone's going to take them

seriously. The polls show that Osbourne's tax

cuts for the top fly in the face of public opinion. Even the most

Conservative voters want the rich to pay more. We have had a lot of

talk about compassionate Conservativism, but with this

Budget we are back to the same old Tories. Cheers.

Yeah, I know it's daytime but I have come here early for the Blue

Owen Jones, who has found out the hard way there are no nibbles

before our programme. Welcome to This Week. I hope the car is parked

on a phaoert while we do this. -- metre while we do this. The 50p tax

rate, for most of Labour's life, for all but 57 days of 13 years, it

was 40p under Labour and Alistair Darling said it was temporary, and

Mr Osbourne's only taken it back to 45p. This is Labour policy? Well,

it was actually one of the most popular policies the last

Government introduced and what was interesting about is if you look

across the social scale people back that policy and even Conservative

voters, majority of, over 60% according to polls back that policy.

Actually, you are right, it was a break from a consensus which New

Labour and the Tories backed which was you don't make the rich pay

more tax. With Alistair Darling introduced it, he said it would be

temporary. He was wrong to say that. You think it should be permanent?

We have a situation, the sun Times, your old newspaper, does a rich

list every single year. The top 1,000 wealthiest people in Britain,

their wealth went up by by an average of a fifth last year and

the year before 30%, the biggest hike it's before recorded. There's

plenty of money around the top and we should be taxing it. Why has the

50p top rate taken in so little so far? There was a variety of reasons

for that. Firstly, because New Labour actually they didn't

implement it straightaway, they gave a period to allow it to bed in,

if you like. There is a jump in the number of people paying themselves

dividends before it came into action. So A4E, the subject of a

Newsnight investigation tonight examining massive corruption, Emma

Harrison, their former chairman, for example, she paid herself huge

amounts of dividends just before. That won't be possible in the

coming year so that would not be tax avoidance. I understand that,

you can only stall for one year. Isn't the lesson from that, when

the state are going to take away more than half of people's income,

because the real rate is 52 because of national insurance, the kind of

people on the Sunday Times rich list they will find ways of not

giving you half their income. That's the wrong way of looking at

it. There is a massive problem with tax avoidance in this country, so

we talk about... Because Because the rates are high? We talk about

benefit fraud, about 1.2 billion according to the Government but tax

avoidance is worth about �25 billion and I have to say normally

when a law is introduced if people don't abide by it, they don't say

well we will scrap the law because people aren't abiding by it, that's

- the only time there is an exception to that is when the rich

are involved and they say the policy is wrong. They're not

breaking the law by avoiding it. That's the point. If you commit

benefit fraud in this country the state will come down like a ton of

bricks. If you evade tax you are breaking the law. That's the point.

That's why Sir Philip Green... talked about aggressive tax

avoidance. A lot of the big companies do. You said this Budget

hands a majority of the cabinet a cheque worth �40,000. How do you

work that out? Well, the average top rate taxpayer will save �10,000.

14,000 millionaires will get over �40,000. The number of millionaires,

23 millionaires in this cabinet, out of 29 Ministers. The majority

of those will get up to �40,000. They don't earn a million a year?

Depends who you are talking about. No one in the cabinet. Where would

the �40,000 - you are assuming because you are worth �1 million,

that you get �1 million a year. This is a tax on income, no one in

the cabinet is making �1 million a year. They may be worth a million

and more, but they're not earning a million. Correct? So the �40,000 is

not right. It depends, because a lot of them, it is as couples

earning huge amounts of money. They'll pay separate tax. If we

look at the Conservative Party, over half Conservative funding

comes from the City. That's not the point. I am simply saying, is it

your claim tonight that there are many people in the cabinet who are

as we speak earning �1 million a year? Well, Wye like to see the

whole cabinet and all Tory MPs, all Tory MPs come clear about their

earnings, including... They have to as cabinet Ministers, don't they?

Um..., well I think cabinet Ministers' salaries are published.

You also have to declare any other. That's why I find it odd today when

George Osborne, one of the more wealthy members of the cabinet,

said he wasn't a top rate taxpayer, I thought that was very odd. Let's

come back to the general policy, throughout the time you were in

power you kept the top rate at 40p, indeed on the times that I met Tony

Blair in the early days he was adamant that would remain the

policy and it did until the 11th hour of the Labour Government when

he was long gone. Was that wrong? think the 50p rate was put

newspaper extraordinary economic times. I think that in a sense we

are still living with the consequence of those, that's why I

don't agree with some of the thing Owen said but I agree with the

basic point. I think it was the wrong choice for this time. I think

to fund it it he's had to do some of the other things we will talk

about in relation to pensions and taking away tax credits and the VAT

rise going ahead and so forth. I think that it is the wrong choice

and I think Owen asked the question in the film, is it Osbourne showing

his true colours? And I think it is. Do you think it should now be

permanent? No, I don't. I don't think it should be permanent. But I

think that for now it's not the right time. With all the other

priorities the Government has, and I think the other thing we are

overlooking from this Budget, the borrowing figures were terrible.

The unemployment which he barely mentioned, one million young people

out of work... We can do some of that. We are here to talk about the

points Owen raised. You have warned many times on this programme that

50p, maybe the right thing to cut but it but it was politically

impossible or dangerous. What do I'm impressed that he cut it,

because I did think it was almost impossible to do. It is politically

dangerous. It was only a few weeks ago when I heard Vince Cable saying

for the first time that he wasn't wedded to the 50p that I saw the

chance for the coalition to get rid of it. It is quite a strong point

tonight that Vince Cable said on Question Time that the 50p was

useless... That isn't what he said to the Liberal Democrats conference.

But that is what he is saying tonight. Are you glad he's done it?

By the way he isn't doing it now, but next year. And he is allowing

them to defer again. Owen right is that we got hit and that is why the

tax revenues didn't come in as they should have done. Now he is saying

to the people who ripped off the state last time, do it again.

in the City yesterday and a number of people made that point.

serious party in Government lives with a tax rate of 50%. Why?

Because they see it is anti- competitive. Do you know which

decade in the Britain had the highest rate of Britain? Thatcher's.

It was the 1960s. We had a high level of tax. Are you aware there

is more competition now. Tell me about the 1960s. I'm interested.

can see what you are doing there, it is very clever. In the 1940s to

1970s we had the highest level of growth. We had a few economic

recessions. And the top rate of tax reached 98% at one point of income.

In the 1960s the top 1% of taxpayers accounted for 5% of

income tax receipts, between tax rate was 98%. When it got to 40%

the top 1% accounted for 30% of income tax receipts. That's

socialists for you. The amount of wealth that's been produced and

concentrated at the top. But they are paying much more in income tax

now than when it was 98%. They are about the pay a lot less. I think

that the economy is not, has not recovered. I think that that Budget

should have had a plan for jobs and growth. It is not there and he's

signalled his property. It is certainly not now. Serious parties

of Government, before Owen interrupted me, don't live with the

50%. He is here to interrupt you. He's here to enjoy himself. If

Labour ever gets back it won't have a 50% rate of tax. As Alastair

mentioned, they've gone through a terrible time on the NHS, doing

what a lot of people said they wouldn't do, this massive reform.

Owen is wrong that they earn �1 million now. But this is a Cabinet

of largely rich people who overall will benefit from these taxes. Is

it playing to type? Gordon Brown laid a clever trap. He hoped the

trap would be sprung before the election. He hoped the Tories would

say no, we'll get rid of the 50p, but they lived with it until this

week. But now they are not going to live with it any more. The timing

is clever, because it comes in next year. There'll be two years before

the election. It is about the politics of this. It is interesting

that Ed Miliband made this the big issue when she responded to the

Chancellor. That is because he didn't listen to the Budget. Come

the election, unless Labour is prepared to say we will reinstate

the 50p it ceases to be an election issue. That is true but it is an

extremely popular policy. The fact is this is a policy which even

attracts the majority of Conservative voters. Therefore do

you think Labour will, I know you think they should, campaign on a

50p tax rate come the election? they won't. There's a lack of

leadership from them at the moment. I think if they called for more

taxation on the rich, for the people at the top to toy their fair

share they would get a lot of popular support. That is what

they'll do. I don't think you can rule it out. Owen Jones, thank you

for being with us. The car is outside. Boy George may have given

up on asking his multi-millionaire Cabinet colleagues to pay the 50p

rate of tax. Coming soon writer, comic, broadcaster top tweeter Dave

Gorman will be guiding us through the delicate world of internet

manners. For those of you who still don't know how to behave online,

and this seems to be most of you who watch this programme, there's a

certainly circle of hell reserved for you on our web page, our

Twitter page and our Twitter mainframe. I don't know what that

is. I know you do, Alastair. There are reports this week that call me

Dave and Boy George have given their homes in Downing Street a

make-over, at the cost of a meer �1.8 million to the taxpayer. At

that price they must have used the very posh wallpaper from George's

family business, Osborne and Little. Decorating doesn't need to be

expensive. You can always do it yourself. We asked Channel 4's

Sarah Smith to don her over alls and give us a round-up of the

Unlike the Chancellor, I'm not the heir to a wallpaper dynasty but I

do like to think I'm a bit of a dab hand at DIY. I've been task to

choose one of these and put it on the wall. How hard can it really

be? This year's Budget was about as leaky as this old budget. So when

the Chancellor unrolled it in front of the nation there weren't many

surprises. But there was a huge political gamble at the heart of it

confirm a very wealthy Chancellor get away with giving away millions

to millionaires? There was a small Tam cut for the rest of us by

raising the personal allowances. That was to please the Liberal

Democrats. But there was a much bigger tax cut for people who earn

over �150 a year. From April next year, the top rate of tax will be

45p. No Chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy

and raises next to nothing. It is as simple as that.

It wasn't all tax cuts for the rich. There is higher staff duty on house

purchases over �2 million, which is not really a "mansion tax" but the

Liberal Democrats can pretend it is. And there's a big crackdown on tax

dodges, which Nick Clegg is claim is sort of like a tycoon tax. But

did the coalition's junior partners not notice that the Chancellor was

about to rip up granny's tax allowances? And did he think the

rest of us wouldn't this is that this is a nice way of helping the

poor old dears with hose horribly complicated self assessment forms?

We will simplify the tax forms better pensioners by doing away

with age-related allowances for those reaching 65 on or behalf 2013.

The first rule of budgetary politics is you don't mess with the

grey vote. So has the Chancellor made a big mistake here? Maybe. But

he has stopped us all talking about that 50p tax cut. Oh, damn it!

Ed Miliband didn't let himself get distrackeded. He turned in one of

his best parliamentary performances yet. Let's have some tax

transparency. Hands up in the Cabinet if you are going to benefit

from the income tax cut. Come on. Come on. Come on. Labour might not

have liked it but the business community were delighted with what

they heard. So now the Chancellor just has to wait and see whether

his gamble paid off. Is this going to be remembered as the budgets

that business loved? The Budget that cut taxes for the very

richest? Or the Budget that raised It's been a week of parliamentary

pageantry. The Palace of Westminster was give an good brush-

up in anticipation of the Queen's visit to mark her Diamond Jubilee.

The great and the good were all there - Prime Ministers old and new,

and Speaker Bercow, never one to shun the limelight. He seized the

opportunity to extol Her Majesty's visit use. This is a nation of many

races, faiths and customs, beginning now to be reflected in

Parliament. All of this progress has occurred during your reign. You

have become to many of us a kaleidoscope Queen of a

kaleidoscope country in a kaleidoscope qefplt

It is not difficult to imagine what the Prime Minister thought of the

Speaker's grandstanding. He certainly enjoyed the

opportunity to poke fun at the Speaker's language when asked about

the Budget. This is if you like, Mr Speaker, a kaleidoscope Budget.

MORE! MORE SPEAKER I'M SO ENCOURAGED THAT THE PRIME MINISTER

IS USING MY LANGUAGE. ANDY BURNHAM We will repeal this Bill at the

first opportunity and that we will restore the N in NHS. Mr Speaker,

we have given this fight. We have given this fight everything that we

confirm our fight will go on to protect and restore this party's

finest achievement So for now all that coalition cracks have been

papered over. All those Liberal Democrats worrys have been smoothed

away as the whole Cabinet banged on the table to celebrate the passing

of the Bill. A job well done, they like too think. Just like this one.

Oh, no! How did that happen? It happens to me too, Sarah.

Joining us at our little community college Brenda Green. Will we

remember this Budget? And if we do, for what? A lot of people will get

a big tax cut, myself included. The average wage in this country is

�26,000. So a large chunk of people over �20 million will get a tax cut.

Presumably we all get our tax bills, a lot of us, I'm in that bracket,

will be pleased. But it is not enormous. If you are one of those

people who are on middle and low incomes it does make a difference.

But it is not life changing. think the problem that's happened

this week is that a positive news story, certainly for the Liberal

Democrats, has been drowned out by the granny tax. I just wanted to

get your overview. What do you think, some budgets are not

remembered. Will this be remembered and if so for what? I think the

last thing -- the lasting significance of it was in the

bigger figures and the economic forecasts. He tried to make a big

thing of it being 0.8 rather than 0.7. It was third of what he was

planning for in his first Budget. I think it is the fact that the

economy and the recovery is not happening. That is back to the

earlier discussion, because they haven't got the right priorities

and a strategy for jobs and growth. The tax changes will be remembered.

This will be the biggest Budget of the Parliament. But that doesn't

necessarily mean, and what he's done about the elderly, by the way

no older person is going to lose out on this. Every pensioner is

going to benefit from the bigger tax allowance that all income tax

payers benefit from. Hold on, the alliance is going to be frozen. Any

-- the allowance is going to be frozen. No, what they are losing

out on is what their position would have been if this change had not

been made. All pensioners will be better off. It is money that they

expected to have that they will not now have. They didn't know that the

income tax allowance was going to That's a cut. Pensioners are going

to lose their advantage over other income taxpayers. Yeah. But all

income taxpayers are benefiting from this enormous increase in the

threshold. All right. We have run out of time on your original

statement. You need to get to the point more quickly! You mentioned

the threshold, which is what the Liberal Democrats have been dining

out on. But the news headlines are about the 50p tax rate and about

the so-called granny tax. They are. In the end, the Lib Dem achievement

for the Tories is that you are giving cover to these unpopular

policies. Well, OK. Anyone who is involved with the Lib Dems has to

learn to be a permanent optimist, here is an optimistic take. The

headlines were atrocious this morning, absolute carnage. Never

seen worse after a Budget, never seen worse. Horrific. They must

have been head in hands, all of them. But I think if you look

slightly behind it, it was interesting, if you looked at the

Sun which had gone furious and hated the Budget, if you looked at

the breakdown of measures they gave a thumbs up to the Lib Dem measures,

a thumbs up to the tax there is hold changes, to -- threshold

changes, to the property taxes and the case studies in all the papers,

all the case studies of lower income working people benefiting.

So what you have to try and... Unless you neighbouring tax credits

and other tax changes in the system and eight out of ten cuts are still

not through there. A lot of those people they will come to be a lot

worse off. It's an important mission of this whole parliament.

Are the Lib Dem grass roots, who we know are pretty unhappy in general.

They're all wearing red like Nick was. Are they going to be happy

with the cut in the 50p rate, happy that the Lib Dems cabinet Ministers

banged the cabinet table as the health and social Bill was passed

into law? Well, definitely not the last. They won't be happy with that.

Then unlikely to be happy with the disaster that is the coverage of

the Budget because nobody wants to be associated with a mess, right?

The granny tax, in my view, was handled incredibly badly, I think.

We have officially had the discussion about this, there is an

argument to be had on the merits of asking the older generation to also

make a contribution to... He didn't do that, he did sneak it out.

agree. It was clear. It wasn't clear. It was a gift... He got the

tone all wrong. He should have been much more still in austerity mode,

he was trying pretend things are better than they are. He gave a

gift to the lobby by trying to hide something. To find a negative story

and everyone loved it. Is Ed Miliband right to have gone

entirely on the 50p cut in his Budget reply? It's what, as Labour

leaders have been touring the studios, that's almost all they

want to talk about, is that sensible? Even in a Budget response,

because the Budget is the big thing, the Chancellor's got all the things

to announce. It's a tough gig, yes. I thought Ed did extremely well.

The truth is you get one or two points across if you are lucky. I

thought he got that point over incredibly well. Including when he

was sort of pointing at the front bench. Now what he and Ed Balls and

the others have to do is take this into the area of where is the plan

for jobs and growth, that's the big hole in the heart of this Budget.

Stkwrous recap, when the Conservatives cut the top rate of

tax to 40p the Labour Party were so furious the sitting of the House of

Commons had to be suspended. There was absolute uproar. It was Alex

Salmond that caused the disruption, not the Labour MP. It was who

started it, but Labour was there with a fury as well. These things

do pass into history. I think by the time we get to the election the

45p will not be a problem. We might be heading for 40p by then. It's

always going to be an interesting choice. As I have spoken to Lib

Dems post the Budget, they're kind of of surprisingly chipper, after

the coalition went through a rough time from Mr Clegg downwards they

seem to be kind of back in the game again. The coalition which you

could have thought was maybe a bit shaky, this Budget for all its

headlines this morning, seems to have put the coalition back on the

road again, would you agree with that? I would. I think also this

kind of interesting public negotiation that's been going on

between both sides of the the coalition has been a big plus for

the Lib Dems because it's allowed Nick Clegg to publicly make a

speech saying I want to go further and faster on these tax thresholds,

and now he can say I got that. Everyone's pretty satisfied because

that's a headline page one manifesto policy. The 50p cut and

they got the corporation tax cut, so in a sense for the moment anyway,

they're happy. We will swhaoe the weekend papers make of it because

that's often the real test of a Budget. I have to get to the big

issue. On a scale of twoupb ten -- scale of twoupb ten, how much does

David Cameron hate the Speaker of the House?

Ten being really vengeful, hate beyond hate. One being I just don't

like him. With the two clips you showed it's got to be at nine.

was going to say 8.5. Miranda? think calmer -- Cameron does good

hate. The face there - the Queen looked bemused but Cameron...

idea what he was talking about. You put Kaleidoscope into a Tony Blair

speech. No love lost. Twoupb ten? Probably about a nine. The Speaker

was shaking with anger. If I round up 8.5 it's all nine. 999!

Maybe what the Speaker should dial. Nice to see you again. Now, we

learnt a new verb this week - chatterboxing - the act of posting

online comments about This Week, whilst simultaneously watching the

show. I am maced most of you can do anything at once, never mind two

things. Not to be confused with wineboxing - an act involving Blue

Nun and a remote control, which results in an altogether different

sort of hangover. So with our highly underpaid team of interns

currently hunched over their Raspberry Pi's, feeding us your

instant vitriol, what exactly are the rules of etiquette in the

online world? And who's making them up as we go along? We've decided to

put "netiquette" in this week's Spotlight. Get it? I thought of

Following his collapse on the field Fabrice Muamba's family thanked the

public for their kindness, with the online community galvanising

sympathy and support for the young football star. I have to say

worldwide the support he's had, the prayer from countries all over the

world, and people that just - how nice a lad he is. While celebrities

David Mitchell and Victoria Coren choose a traditional way to

announce their engagement, in The Times, they were soon trending in

the top ten following so many tweets of congratulations. It is

saoeupls the virtual world has a darker side as broadcaster Richard

Bacon this week revealed how he had been hounded by an online troll.

had come home to find a barrage of abuse, mainly on Twitter. He had

always post under a madeup name and currently calls him Dick Bacon.

After Stan Collymore was abused on twit, his abuser was given a

community sentence. As more people express feelings and emotions

online how easy is it for people people to hide behind a keyboard?

Or is the etiquette of the internet something that we will all have to

get used to? We are joined by Dave Gorman.

200,000 followers on Twitter. that right? It is, we checked.

have already told me, you are odd, you are smug, patronising and I

look like death warmed up. Who has come off best? I don't know.

they in the main polite to you? Most are. The vast majority, as

with the world, most people are polite but every now and then, it's

just a young medium, people don't quite know what the rules are. If

someone, you know if you appear on TV someone somewhere is at home

going I hate him and turning off and that's fine. Happens a lot on

this programme. If they were having that conversation and you walked

into the pub they wouldn't shout it at you. They would whisper because

they're well brought up. If you are on Twitter and put at in front of

your name you are shouting it at them and that's a weird thing to do.

It would seem to me that anonymity can encourage the rudeness. People

will say things behind an anonymous shield they're never going to say

to your face or even in a letter they would sign. With some people

it's the bravery you felt at the age of seven when you went knocking

on doors and running away before they opened it. It's look what I

did, I dared to challenge that authority. If they see you as an

authority. I doubt that very much! Do they sometimes - I found this on

Twitter sometimes people have been rude and they actually haven't

realised they've been rude. Exactly. Some people they think you always

put someone's at in front of their name because that's what they are

on Twitter, they think that's the behaviour of that world. Actually

if you are talking about someone rather than to them you shouldn't.

Because that's not what a conversation is. It's a weird thing.

It comes from maybe reality TV has put this odd morality of at least I

say it to your face. That's not polite. Talking behind your back is

polite. That's normal, how you were brought up! And safer. Absolutely.

Who is making the rules then in this brave new world? I don't know.

It goes both ways, as well as the ub phre -- unpleasantness and in

the film there were examples, horrible recently. Also that

outpouring of sort of positivity. Everyone's turned... The football

player? Exactly. You get odd things like the other day I got told off

by someone after the passing of Davey Jones from the Monkees, I got

told off because I hpblt tweeted -- hadn't tweeted RIP. I was sorry to

hear about it but I don't feel the need to publicly display grief

because it was in the news. 136,000 followers, Alastair. Off reputation

of being a bit of a bruiser. Does that mean that people think they

can be a bruiser to you on Twitter? Possibly, but I find, I agree with

Dave, most people are nice on Twitter and I probably get less

abuse on Twitter than in the press. Or on blogs. Blogs tend to be more

unpleasant. The other thing I find happens is if somebody is

unpleasant on Twitter, other followers sort of get in and sort

it out. The other thing,... character isn't enough to be rude

to you. They need a blog for Campbell. I do think there is a

sort of basic niceness still, and the nastiness, you just got to

ignore it. I don't unfollow, I don't block anybody. Let people say

what they want. Don't you even block the rude and unpleasant?

Tkoeu. That's what they want. That's a warning do you, out there.

I do. It's the fear of being blocked for a lot of people that

makes them more... People see blocking as a strange aggressive

move. I think it's like moving seats on a bus. If someone sits

next on a bus with horrible noise and I see an empty seat I will move.

I am not being rude. Michael Portillo, redundant in this

conversation, with zero followers. Because he is not there. Now you

love political argument. You are a man of the people as we can all

hear and see. Don't you think you are missing out? I don't do it

mainly because I watch you week by week obsessed tpweu and I don't

want to turn into a sad person like that. Aren't you tempted? You can't

even sit here on the show without looking at tweets all the time. I

don't want to be in that state of prediction. I have people to speak

to. Some days I don't look at it. Come on, I have never seen five

minutes you don't look at it. and I don't spend every hour of the

day together. That's our line and we are sticking to it! We can't

tempt you? I am not tempted at the moment. I bet you within a year you

will be there. He will be and if he is not somebody pretending to be

him will be. There is somebody pretending to be me now. I didn't

want to do it, but I did. Dave, what are you up to? I have a show I

am touring, four nights in London at the start of April and then on

the road. Excellent. Good luck with the tour. Thank you very much.

That's your lot for tonight, folks. But not for us, because it's "Top

Rate Taxpayer" night at Annabel's and Samantha Cameron will be

celebrating her good fortune with Tory Blue Nun Royale all round.

Drinks will be on her. But we leave you with the man who this week took

the Kaleidoscope Queen, of a Kaleidoscope country, in a

Kaleidoscope Commonwealth, on a psychedelic trip down the rabbit

hole. He is the Eggman. He is the Walrus. He is the Speaker! Coo coo

ca choo! Nighty night - don't let Big John ankle bite.

# Big John # Every morning at the mine cow see