The lady is for tubing

Oscar

I see operation destroy Hazel Blears is now in full swing. Who is Etan Smallman and what are his credentials?

Grytpype-thynne

Blears suffers from delusions of adequacy.She actually thinks she could progress further in politics, despite her humiliation in the Deputy Leadership stakes (6th out of 6).The Chipmunk will not lie down quietly but will continue to chirrup until it becomes roadkill

David Boothroyd

Did you forget to read what Hazel Blears actually wrote? She said "I'm not against new media. YouTube if you want to. But it's no substitute for knocking on doors or setting up a stall in the town centre."

She's not saying Youtube is bad, she's saying that you have to carry on the old ways of talking to voters as well. It's not in any way hypocritical for Hazel to do Youtube videos.

George Laird

Dear Oscar

Why should credentials matter?

Surely the writing is the important thing?

It either stands up or it doesn't.

Etan is just starting out on his career; he isn't as famous as Fraser Gibbs but then there is only one Fraser Gibbs.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Rick

Brown must have been shown Blears' youtube efforts to use as a blueprint for his cringeworthy youtube.

Verity

Is Etan Nate cleverly spelled backwards?

Polly and Alice's mum

And you thought that Damien Mc Poison was gone.
Be scared....be very scared...

Polly andAlice's mum

By the way, when are we supposed to start cc.ing Jaquie Smith on all our emails?
I have been saving up all sorts of rubbish for her delectation.

Andrew

I'm no particular fan of Iain Dale's little chipmunk, but she's got more balls than the rest of the Cabinet (who presumably feel they have more than enough Balls already, without having to look for more).

The disappointment is that Brown Central will incinerate her, and nuke-surviving cockroach Straw will inherit (just long enough to be the first Lord Chancellor AND Prime Minister, collecting two massive pensions).

"Odious" doesn't really capture it, does it?

John Page

What credentials do you need to make the astonishing discovery that a minister is a hypocrite?

But fwiw he's an aspiring journalist - http://www.thinkaboutit.eu/author/etansmallman/

Seems to me it's a fair cop.

Death or Tory

Etan Smallman - are you really an anagram?...

That said - Hazel Blears is for 'tubing'?

Oh yes...

colin

I'm not sure she, or what she says matter that much. In the scheme of things she's a minor, albeit enthusiastic regime henchman. If there was a playing card with her face on it, that card would be the two of spades...

Having said that, I wish someone would create a deck of cards with the faces of every regime henchman / henchperson printed on the cards.

Grunt

Floating a challenge?

What is float tubing?

Find out at The British Float Tube Association.

http://www.bfta.org.uk/

John

Blears actually performs very well. This is harsh.

And wasn't her point that new media are no substitute for conventional politics.

Steve.W

Give this 'holier than thou' chipmunk a banana and she'll be gone in a bit, just like Milliband. While Brown on his YouTube is really funny Blears is just grating. Diminutive about sums it up!

Dirty Euro:

This is like right wing american right wingers who criticise Obama for using an autocue like nobody else ever did.
People have used you tube for years now. Cameron and Clegg have used it.

Oscar

Dear George Laird

I've always been taught to query my sources. Nothing wrong with wanting to know more about Etan. If he's just starting out, maybe he'd like to introduce himself.

Yours sincerely,

Oscar Miller

griff

Does anyone know what the checks and balances are for ensuring that the nuclear button is only pressed for a justifiable reason?

Fraser Nelson

Christ, guys, poor wee Etan is an intern who was with us for two weeks - ending on Friday. He kindly interrupted his Sunday to send over the above, to share it with y'all... And even as a chipmunk fan, I enjoyed it. So thanks, Etan. This is epilogue of your internship - experiencing the rough and tumble of Coffee House. You should see what happens when I say nice things about James Purnell...

Bernard from Horsham

In the second youb tube video, Hazel seems to have Brown's shoulder wobble trouble

Oscar

Fraser - at least Etan can be pleased he created some controversy. Much better than being ignored.

Ray

At the risk of being shot down in flames, I must confess I actually like Hazel Blears.

She plucky and spirited; and of all the members on Brown's front bench is one of the few who actually can do a passable impersonation of a normal human being.

Nicholas

"This is like right wing american right wingers"

But what about left wing American right wingers, DE, or right wing American left wingers? What about them?

Carrie

Fraser, check this out:

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/98623/MP-claimed-10-000-more-on-expenses-than-he-paid

What's your opinion of your beloved James Purnell now???

John Galt

Worrying that coffee house appears to be at the forfront of no. 10's attack machine.
Who's Etan anyway? Is Guido the only source of political analysis left I can now trust?

Austin Barry

A rather sinister Labour MP, Lindsay Hoyle, has been doing the media rounds castigating the people's chipmunk. Who he? Well, apparently, he was '..captain of the winning team of 'Labour Tossers' who won the 2007 annual pancake race on College Green'. Same rank, same team, different race...

Jenny

Etan, don't take it to heart, we do say nice things about Fraser & Co - but not very often.

We don't want them taking us for granted but we do like them or we wouldn't be here every day, would we?

I wish you very well.

And, BTW, you're right to pick up Blears on this. No-one uses a phrase like "YouTube if you want to" without meaning severe damage to their subject.

It is one of the most famous quotes in British political history and Blears knows full well what she was doing.

If you're a Cabinet minister and you're writing in a Sunday paper, you're not doing it for nothing. You're usually either floating a policy idea to see how it goes down or trying to stir the pot a little. In this case it was the latter.

Etan Smallman

Certainly didn't expect to elicit such a reaction. I have to admit I am also a bit of Blears fan.
@David Boothroyd - I have also read the article. As much as she says she is not against the use of YouTube and the like, to make it the centre of her article in the light of Brown's video is clearly an extremely thinly veiled dig. And does seem a bit hypocritical considering her not inconsiderable use of YouTube herself. That was all. No "operation destroy Hazel Blears". As I say, I actually quite like her.
Oh, and I'm not an anagram. This really is my name. Go on, Google me.

Nick

Fraser, it was a legitimate question to ask who Etan was. After all Damiangate has shown us that No 10 has been successful at planting its stories in the media. You would have saved a lot of bother had you just put a one line (wee ?)notice under Etan's piece saying that he was a Spectator intern.

Oscar

Etan - I have googled you and I wish you well. Looks to me like you have quite a career ahead of you.

mac

@Nick,

Etan made it perfectly clear who he was in his blog last Friday . . .

Fraser Nelson

Nick, you're right, of course it was legitimate question - and also right that we should have a wee line introducing non-regular baristas here at CoffeeHouse. But Oscar says, all this is a tribute to Etan: it's far better to create controversy than be ignored.

Ronnie

Well, Etan Smallman, how does it feel to labelled a Brownite attack dog by the paranoid maniacs around here? It's well known that The Spectator is just one more of New labour's mouthpieces.

Please accept my best wishes.

As for Hazel Blears. Most British politicians should be heard and not seen.

Dirty Euro

Nicholas You seem confused.

Dirty Euro

Nicholass AKA mac. Happy to try and lose someone their job i see. Nice guy eh!

mac

"Nicholas You seem confused."
Priceless, DES, absolutely priceless!

"Nicholass AKA mac"

No, DES. But thanks for the compliment.