2010-04-07 (Wednesday)

Clapping at the telly. #debill

I know #debill is a disaster overall, but @tom_watson, David Drew, Bill Cash etc have restored my faith in politicians. #glasshalffull

@mattb Dr Who was fab wasn't it. I've often been sceptical but this was lots of fun.

Is there a site that tells me which MPs are present for the Finance Bill? The Commons is nearly empty. This is an outrage! #debill #sarcasm

Anyone know what the hashtag is for the Finance Bill? I'm guessing there's lots of outraged Twitter activity about that too? #debill

@timd I look forward to Twittersphere being this involved next time there's something equally important (that's not about the net). #debill

@adamamyl Exactly. They're all "But we're Twitter! You can't ignore us!" as if no one else has had an interest in a bill before.

@matlock Er, yeah, I wasn't saying #debill *would* make people pay attention to other things. I just wish they would.

I want: Every time someone moans about lack of #debill attendance, my computer to say "This is an outrage!" a la Tony Harrison /Mighty Boosh

@matlock I bet most people tweeting about #debill are interested in more than #debill. So why only follow #debill at all closely?

@D_Nye_Griffiths Isn't this attention dismissed as cranky precisely because it's unusual? If it was usual... better? or more easily ignored?

If people (including me) paid this much attention to all of Parliament's proceedings, the country would be in better shape. #debill

To all complaining about lack of MPs in the Commons for #debill. How does it compare to most bills? Is it actually very low? (I don't know.)

@manarh Sorry to hear that. You should be able to have the their internet access cut off.

@rooreynolds As @blech said, a mostly empty Commons isn't unusual. MPs have other things to do and other things are as important as #debill.