Daniel Hannan KICK ASS !

Daniel Hannan, MEP for South East England, gives a speech during Gordon Brown´s visit to the European Parliament on 24th March, 2009. And KICK ASS !

The one thing people is not seeing is how new media push this, just read what Mr. Hannan has to say on his blog...






My speech to Gordon Brown goes viral
Posted on Mar 25, 2009 at 19:14:00


The internet has changed politics - changed it utterly and forever. Twenty-four hours ago, I made a three-minute speech in the European Parliament, aimed at Gordon Brown. I tipped off the BBC and some of the newspaper correspondents but, unsurprisingly, they ignored me: I am, after all, simply a backbench MEP.

How the EU throws our money away

When I woke up this morning, my phone was clogged with texts, my email inbox with messages. Overnight, the YouTube clip of my remarks had attracted over 36,000 hits. By today, it was the most watched video in Britain.

How did it happen, in the absence of any media coverage? The answer is that political reporters no longer get to decide what's news. The days when a minister gave briefings to a dozen lobby correspondents, and thereby dictated the next day's headlines, are over. Now, a thousand bloggers decide for themselves what is interesting. If enough of them are tickled then, bingo, you're news. (Huge thanks to all those who linked: Guido, Iain Dale, Tim Montgomerie, James Delingpole, Donal Blaney, Dizzy, Devil, James Forsyth, PoliticalBetting, Gerald Warner and the rest. And jumbo thanks to all the American bloggers: you chaps are way ahead of us in this regard.)

What caught their attention? To be honest, I'm slightly perplexed. I have been making similar speeches every week and posting them on YouTube for the past seven months. I made one just now: 60 seconds on how Brussels is spraying money at the European Investment Bank (see above clip). Perhaps people felt frustrated about the way Gordon Brown had carried on without once asking for their votes. Perhaps they would have loved to tell him what they thought of him, but lacked the opportunity.

Breaking the press monopoly is one thing. But the internet has also broken the political monopoly. Ten or even five years ago, when the Minister for Widgets put out a press release, the mere fact of his position guaranteed a measure of coverage. Nowadays, a politician must compel attention by virtue of what he is saying, not his position.

It's all a bit unsettling for professional journalists and politicians. But it's good news for libertarians of every stripe. Lefties have always relied on control, as much of information as of physical resources. Such control is no longer technically feasible.

Thatcher leaves hospital

Immaculate as ever,
Baroness Thatcher leaves
hospital after collapsing
over the fruit jelly

Stuffy heat of Lords dining room led to former PM
being taken ill, friends reveal

By SIMON WALTERS

Margaret Thatcher left hospital in good spirits yesterday after being kept in overnight following her collapse at a House of Lords dinner.
The former Prime Minister was said to be "on good form" and "much better" following her medical check-up.

Lady Thatcher fell ill at a function in the Lords dining room on Friday night. She appeared to be overcome by the heat and asked to go outside for some fresh air.

While leaving the room, and before she was able to get outdoors, her legs gave way. Alarmed fellow peers came to her aid and tended to her as she sat on the floor in a corridor, waiting for emergency help.

She was lifted into an ambulance on a stretcher and taken to nearby St Thomas' Hospital, where she spent Friday night.

Initially, it was feared Lady Thatcher may have suffered a repeat of the series of strokes that have left her with short-term memory loss. But friends said yesterday that they think the cause was less serious, the collapse having been sparked by a combination of her low blood pressure and the stuffy conditions in the ancient Lords dining room.

One friend said: "She's never liked the heat. Whenever she went abroad, and the temperature was over 70F, she would start fretting and Denis would say, 'She doesn't like this – let's get her somewhere cooler'."

Lady Thatcher, 82, was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Ulster peer Lord Ballyedmond – the second richest man in Northern Ireland – on behalf of North Cumberland Conservatives.

After tucking into goat's cheese, salmon steak and fruit jelly, Lady Thatcher chatted to her dining companion, Lord Henley, who served as a junior Minister in her Government, over a glass of red wine.

Her spokesman Mark Worthington told The Mail on Sunday: "Just after she had finished her dessert at around 10.30pm, she suddenly felt queasy. She said, 'I'd like to go outside.' We were just heading for the door when her legs buckled beneath her.

Just visiting: Lady Thatcher and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Downing Street in September

"She slumped down and was helped out to the corridor where she sat on the floor until an ambulance arrived. A similar thing happened three years ago when she was at the hairdresser's, but the doctors are fairly sure she has not had a stroke. She chatted away to the doctors and nurses who she said were marvellous. She doesn't like all the fuss and was happy to come home. She is feeling much better."

Lady Thatcher's daughter, Carol, said: "Very wisely, at her age and with a history of minor strokes, they decided to err on the side of caution. But it's good news today. She is doing well."

Mr Worthington said Lady Thatcher's son Mark had also been kept aware of developments.

Lady Thatcher left the hospital at 1.20pm via the accident and emergency department exit and was supported on the ten-yard journey to her car by two medical staff. Wearing a maroon dress, pearl necklace and black shoes, and carrying a black handbag, she waved several times to the waiting cameras but did not respond to questions about her health.

Leaving Lady Thatcher's Belgravia home yesterday afternoon, Mr Worthington said: "She's very comfortable at home, she's sitting up and we've all been chatting away. She's on good form, much better. "The tests revealed nothing of any substance. It was just one of those things. She's going to have a quiet day and we're going to let her get a bit of rest."

Lady Thatcher gave up public speaking engagements six years ago as a result of her failing health, but it has not kept her out of controversy.

Gordon Brown upstaged the Tories – and upset many Labour MPs – by inviting her to No 10 for tea soon after he became Prime Minister.

And David Cameron was accused of shunning Lady Thatcher, who was Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, in his drive to modernise the Conservative Party. But he was forced to change tack after a backlash from the Tory grassroots and he presented an award to her for her 'enormous contribution to British life' in January.

Just visiting: Lady Thatcher and the Prime Minister Gordon Brown in Downing Street in September