Will the “I’s” have it this Thursday?

By Keith Moran

A recent New Scientist article suggested David Cameron performed much better in the second Prime Ministerial debate. With surgical precision, New Scientist boffins closely examined the cunning linguistic devices deployed by Team Cameron and how this resonated with the public. Increased use of the personal pro-noun “I” is cited as one of the ways he better connected with the audience. In contrast, Brown is described as “…(displaying) a thinking style that reflects a natural strategy of organising complex ideas into highly specific concrete categories, as can be seen from his use of articles and prepositions”, and therefore much less personal and yes a little boring. In the job description for First Lord of the Treasury i wonder if the “organisation of complex ideas” should be given a little more prominence over being able to look into a camera and say “I” when your back is to the wall. Of course, in this X-Factor age, when Great Britain no longer administers a quarter of the globe, perhaps there are no longer complex ideas to organise?

Whether you agree or not with this analysis and its conclusions, Cameron did make unashamed use of the phrase “if I were your Prime Minster”, and presumably, as part of the emergency budget, everyday would be the first day of spring. He even found time to agree with grumpy, complex Gordon, who this week didn’t agree with poor Nick once. Yes, things had indeed changed from round one.

The Twittersphere was again a sea of partisan hyperbole, with cheerleaders on each side trying to find their own zingers in 140 characters or less. Tweetminster, base camp for Westminster related twittle twattle, reported 142,795 tweets at an average 26.6 tweets per second during the 90 minutes of the debate. Just 28,790 people were responsible for this frenzied activity and i suspect 25,000 of them may now suffer symptoms of Repetitive Strain Injury. Any level of reasonable political analysis is largely absent in this activists’ bear pit, so it is often the satirists and comedians offering the most impressive insight. Jeremy Hardy observed: “Adam Bolton looks like a transsexual martian in a frog costume“. For me, the best pound for pound tweet of the night.

Some commentators are suggesting that this is the first internet election, where online activity and advertising may actually affect the result. Whether a plethora of tweets in a relatively “closed” community can affect the voting intentions of Mrs Hollingworth of Undecideshire, i’m not so sure. However there are wider issues, many of which are superbly articulated by Paul Mason in this blogpost.

With 12 days and 1 Prime Ministerial debate to go before polling day, Brown, Cameron and Clegg still have the time and space to alter the outcome. When the nation requires clarity, sober reflection and a sense of occasion, it usually falls to the BBC, a television set and often a Dimbleby to provide it, this coming Thursday is no different.