How to use Hansard to devastating effect

Earlier in the semester I introduced you to Theyworkforyou which provides online coverage of almost everything that is said in parliament. Here’s how it can be used to devastating effect.

In February Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, used an article in The Guardian to accuse George Monbiot – a campaigning environmental journalist – of using his position as a political commentator to contribute “to the very cynicism and disengagement from politics” that many people seems endemic in today’s society.

In a devastating riposte Monbiot delves into Blears’s voting record on theyworkforyou.

He then uses the publicly available online record to dismantle her claims sentence-by-sentence. It’s a brilliant piece of online journalism.

Bookmarks for March 09

Some notions of the fourth estate [wikipedia]. The link introduces the media’s perceived role as a guardian of democracy and defender of the public interest. Anyone with even a passing interest in serious journalism needs to get to grips with such notions;

A history of Hansard [wikipedia];

Official Hansard; verbatim reports of parliamentary debates and written answers;

Hansard Archive 1803 – 2005

They Work for You – an alternative version of Hansard (highly recommended).

Biography of John Wilkes (right)  “libertine and libertarian”. The man who led the campaign to win the right to report from parliament.