Say "Harrow" to a blog war !!!!!!!!

I thought we'd take a little holiday from the knockabout politics of Barnet and take a nice little holiday on the 114 bus to Harrow.

So you thought the blogs of Barnet were a rough old mob? We are a bunch of pussies compared to the bunfight which is going on in the London Borough of Harrow. In the Blue corner we have Conservative PPC for Harrow West Dr Rachel Joyce. Rachel is a former Lib Dem supporter, and she's been writing a blog for some time. She's actually one of my favourite Tories (if I have such a thing), as she's a GP so she clearly does a bit of good for the community. She also dislikes the BNP almost as much as I do, and says so regularly on her blog, which to me means she's OK.

In the Red Corner, we have PCS Will, who also writes a blog. Will is a Labour Party member and regular commenter on Rachels blog. He doesn't agree with Rachel on very much and has posted hundreds of comments on Rachels blog, explaining to her the error of her ways. Will is involved as a Trades unionist. Strangely enough, I vaguely know him as he used to work in a music shop at Apex Corner in Mill Hill and we share a good few mutual friends. Will is a good guy who tries to do his bit. He rather cheekily plagerised Don't Call Me Dave's "Not The Barnet Times" blogname, calling his blog "Not The Harrow Times".

It all started when Rachel posted this blog - http://racheljoyce.blogspot.com/2010/01/labour-faked-airbrushing.html - explaining how Labour had airbrushed a picture of David Cameron, criticising the Tories for Airbrushing David Cameron (I hope you got that).  Next up there was a blog on PCS Will's blog saying Rachel had banned him - http://nottheharrowtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-much-for-freedom-of-speech.html - Rachel took exception to PCS Will calling a local Tory bigwig a "Bully Boy". I had a look through PCS Wills blog and there was a rather telling blog that triggered the tussle - http://nottheharrowtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/ashton-resigns-council-in-crisis.html -what is most intersting here is the quality of the comments (presumably left by irate Harrow Tories) - Here is a good example of one:-

Anonymous said..

PCS Limp Willy - why did labour adopt the extra-airbrushed pic of David? Tell us how proud you are of the last labour mal-administration in Harrow (remember the 21% tax hike and the £9 million black hole?)

16 January 2010 17:38 

So just to summarise. It started with a blog about Labour being "The Nasty Party". Then a Labour supporter was rather nasty about a local Tory. A few local Tories the were rather nasty about a Labour supporter, then the Tory blogger banned the Labour blogger for being nasty, then the Labour Blogger says he will allow any comments on his blog, but the Tory blogger responds by saying he's banned her comments. Then rather bizarrely  the Labour blogger posts a blog saying that Boris Johnson is an example of a Sensible Tory  - http://nottheharrowtimes.blogspot.com/2010/01/sensible-tory-shock-horror.html - Then the Tory Blogger posts a blog saying the Labour blogger will be allowed back so long as he's nice about Tories and doesn't make stuff up  - http://racheljoyce.blogspot.com/2010/01/lies-on-blog.html

Got that? I've a little advice to my fellow bloggers in Harrow, both red and blue. Both of you seem to me to be decent types. Both of you are trying to get your message across as best you can. Just for a second remember that these blogs are read by the wider world. What on Earth would a casual voter think if they stumbled across this particular spat? You can put what you like on your blogs, it all adds to lifes rich tapestry, but it all looks rather silly to me. What has the world come to if The Barnet Eye is having to tell other bloggers to be sensible !!!!!