Home   Kent   News   Article

Political blog, March 28: How Dan became the Man - and the Iceland saga goes on

As even the South East Euro MP Dan Hannan admits, politicians in Brussels are not exactly household names.

But thanks to the Internet, he has found himself an unlikely You Tube phenomenon after ambushing Gordon Brown and delivering a coruscating verbal attack on the Prime Minister following his address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend it - regardless of what your politics are.

Oddly, I found the most gripping bit was seeing Gordon Brown trying to pretend that he wasn't listening or bothered by what Daniel Hannan had to say, when he was clearly hearing every word.

Dan is right to say that the sudden popularity of the clip is a classic illustration of how the Internet and the phenomenon of "going viral" is changing the way that news is broken. I readily confess that the first I got to hear about it was by reading about it after political blogger Iain Dale put it on his site.

Watch the speech link text

Meanwhile, back to Iceland. Or rather, back to the spat between Kent County Council and the public spending watchdog the Audit Commission.

It seems Kent County Council isn't the only council sabre rattling over being labelled "negligent" by the Audit Commission.

Havering council - one of the "guilty" seven - also wrote a stiff letter to the Audit Commission, warning that it would take legal action if the report wasn't retracted by Friday (27).

We haven't heard if the Audit Commission has capitulated to this demand but I suspect KCC is watching carefully.

I'll be at a KCC cabinet meeting on Monday where, even if there are no developments to report, I'd be amazed if the Conservative administration doesn't take a few more pot shots at the Commission.

Watch this space!

Close This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.Learn More