Nosemonkey has a brilliant post at The Sharpener.

At the dispatch box Michael Howard rises and says to Tony Blair, “Would the Rt. Hon. gentleman agree that the latest MRSA figures are a disaster and a shocking indictment of his government’s failed NHS strategy?”. Blair gets up to respond, but instead turns round to his backbenchers and says “Did you hear that? He said he’s got poopy pants! ha ha ha! Poopy-pants Howard!” The Labour backbenches roar with laughter, applaud, cheer, and then shout down Howard every time he tries to say anything with chants of “poopy-pants” until he gets so fed up he leaves the chamber in disgust.

The Scottish Parliament feels like that sometimes…

Sorry, that’s not the point of Nosemonkey’s post. So go and read it.

Whenever there is a debate on this blog, the tone is usually fair and respectful. Usually. (Then again, since most posts get fewer than ten comments, none of them count according to some.)

Yesterday I received an email calling me ‘doctor veedee’ (I’ve never heard that one before!!!) and telling me:

You are just another scotch ponce beggar… GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU SCOTCH BAG OF PISS CUNT!

Thankfully this sort of thing is very rare. And that’s the way I endeavour to keep it. The debate is important to the so-called “blogosphere”, and if the debate can’t be reasonable, you can forget about it.

Another point about the blogosphere which is touched upon by Nosemonkey in his post. I really don’t want to read a blog if I know what it’s going to say before I’ve even loaded the page. There’s nothing more tiresome than the party line. Something more interesting and thought-provoking is more, you know, interesting and thought-provoking.