The number of contributions is increasing rapidly. I am happy to act as host and put as many up as possible. I do not mind people disagreeing with each other or with me. Nor do I mind well informed and hard hitting criticism of governments or political parties.
I do not wish, however, to put up comments which make unpleasant or damaging comments about individuals or institutions. I have so far sought to delete these and then post the remainder of the piece. Given the volume I may in future simply have to drop the whole post, as the editing can take too long.
26 Comments
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October 9, 2008
Hello John.
I did wonder about your posting system!
I made a post but you didn't put it on, I had a moan which you did put on & them mysteriously the post I had moaned about not appearing suddenly appeared about a week later, I only knew because I got a reply & email sent!
Anyhow! Stropy pants here will try again another day :o)
October 9, 2008
John – I think you have underestimated the popularity of your views and your blog site. Perhaps you need a blog-manager.
October 9, 2008
Fair points all. For me at least, the interactivity of blogs such as this, Guido etc. are what makes them interesting (along with the content of course!).
But I hope you are able to maintain this. The day a certain tory MP disabled commentary on her blog was the last time I visited it.
October 9, 2008
The Eu banking system is the same as the US. The ECB has massive debts and prints money.
What exactly is the point of Europe?
October 9, 2008
I want to say that I really enjoy reading your excellent blog which has brought me not only great pleasure but also a considerable insight into how politics and indeed banking actually work on the ground.
Thank you – keep it up!
October 9, 2008
Seems a good rule and nobody should assume an automatic right to having comments published. It's your blog and you're the Boss.
That despite my second only comment on this blog still being subject to moderation and probably unlikely ever to be seen by your readers.
October 9, 2008
You are quite right to pull us up from time to time, and the polite and thoughtful blogs are by far the most enjoyable. It is hard, though, not to be rude at all, when one suffers day and night from the feeling that one's country, in many people's eyes once the fairest and most civilized in the world, is being systematically coarsened, degraded, and, yet again, beggared.
October 9, 2008
It seems to me that a lot of your time is taken up with getting rid of naughty words. Surely a computer monkey can cope with this? I worked at a school once where the words were censored. This led to great hilarity in the staff room when we spent hours on the computer seeing which words were banned.
Also, I wonder if you aren't doing too much? Two posts a day is a 200%increase on how you started off. Now there are replies, perhaps you could spend more time with Wisden?
When you were away, too, your staff coped, I thought, admirably.
This is (to my mind) one of the very best – fair, clean and clued up. I bet it is going to grow even more. That could mean, perhaps, sharing with another MP?????
October 10, 2008
Mikestallard: "That could mean, perhaps, sharing with another MP?????"
Frank Field?
October 9, 2008
Maybe you should get one of those maths test devices google mail is launching to deter drunken emails for your commentators. After all, staying in with a bottle of supermarket plonk and surfing the net is one way to beat the credit crunch.
October 9, 2008
To stop posters endlessly sending you the same message if you decide moderation is in order, perhaps you should just put their Name and date and time and 'comments not on topic' or 'comments noted, not suitable for this thread' or similar.
I would hate to see the contributions ended like a fellow MP of yours and I also stopped visiting when she ended the readers right to reply.
I would also agree that this blog is very interesting and educational so please continue.
October 9, 2008
I had spotted your editing policy John and my last post – that you have not yet published – proved the point. But, there comes a point when you have to put your money where your mouth is. Unfortunately, it appears that you don't want to upset your old banker mates, and we all know why.
reply: I am trying to protect some of my contributors from themselves – if you make an allegation against someone – or a company – you need to be able to stand it up for legal reasons.
October 10, 2008
I understand where you are coming from. I did the coarse on "how to slag someone off and stay legal", when I was a Councillor; and managed to avoid the Standards Committee. (Cllr's don't have parliamentary privilege)
I also respect that anything said on this site may be interpreted as "approved by John Redwood" which Mr Cameron might not be pleased with. I have been a party spokesman and been smacked for going off message.
I don't know if you have a web-site linking policy, so I am attaching the following to test it. Just to cheer up Redwoodians in these dark days:- (press delete here if not allowed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIDxNoibAGg
Have you thought about doing a "YouTube". Good one on BOM this morning about the "carry trade":- http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/
Reply: I do not stick to agreed Conservative policy. This is not an official Conservative site. I am just trying to prevent contributors getting into hot water, and wasting my time with rows over allegations that might be difficult to prove.
October 9, 2008
I regard this site as less of a newsblog than a sort of rolling symposium on fixing the country. This is to a large extent due to the high standard of contributors you have. If you think you are being jostled by to large a crowd then I have no problem with you pruning a bit even if that sometimes means me. Not having anonymous comments probably plays a major part in keeping out time wasters. If you decided to aim at only publishing about a dozen comments per thread I doubt I doubt we would lose much so long as you didn't try to fix the number rigorously.
October 9, 2008
An excellent sites.
I relish the debate and content and enjoy reading the various views.
As an experiment?
If I called the leader of our socialist disaster of a country and his prime henchman with the eyebrows – xxxxx; would this bit be edited? ( !!! -ed)
October 9, 2008
And if you say something bad about me … well, we know where you live!
October 10, 2008
If, under the current regime, you could call this 'living'.
October 9, 2008
At a time when we are still not getting definitive answers on a number of vital core Conservative issues, I would not want to see this blog shared by another MP. At times like this, when there is still the fog of obfuscation at high level, pure unadulterated Redwood is refreshing and provides clarity where, in other places, there is none.
Having said that, if the work load becomes too onerous, then there should be some help given, for it would be a tragedy if the thing succumbed as a victim of its own success. The important thing is for the quality of the articles to be maintained, so secretarial help might be necessary to edit comments.
October 9, 2008
Your Blog – Your Rules.
Of course you have every right to delete as you see fit. I think many contributors on other blogs, and some here, sometimes forget those simple truths – and I include myself.
But better by far that you should decide rather than some loony apparatchik in Westminster or Cheltenham or, worse, Brussels.
October 9, 2008
good luck john
we enjoy your blog
October 9, 2008
Maybe you could get a volunteer to help with the moderation ?
There must be some software that will allow you to block individuals or specific IDs also, which would discourage poor behaviour.
October 9, 2008
John, I'm sure you know that your blog makes a huge contribution to right wing thinking and it has the most sensible financial analysis from anyone on your side of the House. Coffee House has a current post on Tory economic thinking not being discredited by the crisis – but it's only about the generalities of non-socialist regulation not the specifics of what needs to be done now, partly because there is such a silence coming from others. So you provide a real service and it would be crying shame if the workload proved too much.
The comments are an integral part of the blog as a reality check and a sounding board for a general consensus on the posts you make. It would be a much poorer blog with comments reduced and/or over-censored.
Surely, though, editing out coarse posts (which I have to admit to finding very funny in the right place) isn't a good use of your own time? Is there not part of your parliamentary allowance which can go towards it? Maybe on a job share with say three or four others in the same position?
I'm sure you know all this without my saying so so I'm sorry if this comment has added unnecessarily to the workload!
Reply: I pay all the costs of this blog and do not think I could charge it to the taxpayer.
October 10, 2008
I noticed on Question Time last night you got a bashing even though you were not there. I think they are frightened of your knowledge.
Anyway this blog gives you the oppotunity to put your case, give us training in the system and allows comments from readers.
It more than the BBC can achieve and is far better than most other places.
October 10, 2008
Read page 64 of JR's Economic Policy Review:
"We would propose considering splitting off the commercial activities of the BBC from its public sector broadcasting duties and responsibilities more clearly than at present, and wish to ensure that the financing of such activities is entirely within the private sector, with no recourse to licence payers’ money in the event of mistakes being made. The BBC should not be allowed to advertise its commercial services on public service channels that do not take adverts from other commercial concerns."
I don't think it's 'knowledge' they are worried about.
October 10, 2008
As you are one of the few who does not use the net to parrot nothing but the party mantra and who chooses to offer as open and well informed a forum as this to the rest of us, it would be crying shame if you allowed a few people who do not know how to behave to bring this blog to an end.
October 10, 2008
What figurewizard said.