Devil hangs up his horns

So Chris Mounsey AKA Devil's Kitchen has decided to delete his entire blog history and start again in a less vituperative style following yesterday's appearance on The Daily Politics where he was torn into by Andrew Neil for his blogging style. There is some further blog reaction here, here and here.

I can understand his decision. He mentions that his boss appeared to be none too pleased about the exposure he was getting following his appearance and of course he won't want to do anything to jeapordise his career.

At the same time I can't help feeling a little sad. Chris' blogging style was not to everyone's tastes but I used to enjoy reading his rants. He has described them as "cathartic" and I can understand why. I know that plenty of other people found them to be that too. I think we will all lose something as a result of his toning down.

Jennie Rigg is horrified by the whole episode (and other recent ones too, and the reaction of even some within the Lib Dems to similar episodes from our opponents) and what it says about who is and is not deemed acceptable for public life. In an excellent post today she points out what I have also said on occasion which is that we seem to be trying to get to a position where anyone with an even vaguely colourful personality is shunned. She then goes on to list various things that she has done in her past which the media and her opponents (she is standing in a council election at the moment) could use against her from her past. Well worth reading.

Coming back to Chris, I am sure the quality of his argument will remain and perhaps eventually this change will be seen as for the best. He points out that this was always going to happen eventually. I guess his point is that being an angry young man can only get you so far. I'm sad to concede that ultimately he is probably right, at least with the way our political life is structured at the moment.