This blog is a wee bit different from your average politician's blog in that its primary purpose is to cover local news and views from Dundee's West End (together with, err..., vital updates on matters like the X Factor ...) rather than simply a daily digest of my views on the politics of the day. Of the latter variety in Scotland, there's a minority that consist of little more than an unfortunate barrage of acid comments about political opponents.The furore over the SNP Mark MacLachan's blog “The Universality of Cheese” (see article from today's Sunday Herald - click on the headline above or go to http://bit.ly/6E2jHe) is best summed up by the comments of two Scottish bloggers -
The Green Party's Two Doctors (see http://bit.ly/8sWHNl)
" ... it mostly damages the reputation of blogging, and more seriously, the reputation of politics in general."
Dundee blogger Stuart Winton's Planet Politics (see http://bit.ly/801cpC)
"And given the former position of the blog's author the revelations can now only damage the SNP.
Thus perhaps Mark MacLachlan merely desired a little online adulation and saw a blog with a hefty dose of bile and vitriol as a more effective means to that end than a more moderate approach, or perhaps the venom on display provided some sort of personal catharsis.
But whatever he sought to achieve, the MacBlogosphere in general and the SNP's online presence in particular are well rid of the likes of The Universality of Cheese, and it is to be hoped that this latest exposé - following the demise of Wardog last week - will encourage others to adopt a more civilised approach."