Well, not really, the title above is rubbish, but Simon Hughes seemed to score a “street cred” point yesterday when an interview with him was carried on Buzzfeed.
Buzzfeed did it via Snapchat and showed the Snapchat snapshots.
The background to the interview was the statement from David Cameron which seemed to mean that there would be a ban on encrypted applications, such as WhatsApp and Snapchat, that the people in the trenchcoats can’t monitor.
Here’s how the interview went:
Buzzfeed
Are LDs backing PM on encryption?
Hughes:
LibDems blocked “Snoopers’ Charter”
Buzzfeed
But social networks are what most people care about. What about them? Even on social media?
Hughes:
Can’t have govt recording all chats
Buzzfeed:
So the Lib Dems will pledge unmonitored, freely available Snapchats for every Briton while they’re in government? So absolutely *no* Snapchat ban.
Hughes:
No! Snapchat away under LibDems!
There was then a thing with emojis which I think was optimistic for our chances in Southwark and Bermondsey….and seems to indicate that Simon is going to buy five new yellow taxis. Or perhaps that was a reference to Joni Mitchell…
Oh, and by the way, Simon’s image was coming up incredibly yellow on Snapchat. Look!:
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.




10 Comments
“Buzzfeed gave it an attractive sort of Skype snapshot treatment, with subtitles for each question and answer.”
Hmm. You’re not a Snapchat user yourself then, Paul? ;-P
No. My daughter is. In my defence, I use WhatsApp regularly. I have changed that bit now. If only I had read the whole piece originally… D’oh!
I have now used Snapchat and fully realise what an utter numpty I have been.
I wouldn’t have known any different, Paul. I have tried to use Snapchat but keep getting in a fankle with it.
Feel guilty for being a pedant now. Feel free to delete my comment!
I have learned from this – that Caron Lindsay is in a fankle and Paul Walter admits to being an utter numpty.
Much as I like the works of Joni Mitchell it was not a name I executed to crop up in an article supposedly to do with “da kids”. Does anyone under the age of 50 know who Joni Mtichell is / was ?
On the positive side if it results in the download of some of her music by someone who has not come across her before today – that can only be a good thing.
My last comment – please delete the word “executed” and insert “expected”.
“I have now used Snapchat and fully realise what an utter numpty I have been.”
Has anyone informed the leader about this fantastic application? Did Simon Hughes go through full realisation too? Could be a game changer in GE2015, a secret weapon; a tool that allows politicians to fully realise what utter numpties they’ve been is nothing short of revolutionary. Bet it won’t work on Farage. 🙂
“…. a tool that allows politicians to fully realise what utter numpties they’ve been..”
A very simple tool exists for the rest of us to remind politicians what utter numpties they’ve been.
Unfortunately for our party there will be hundreds of thousands of our former supporters who will make full use this tool in May and as a result the number of Liberal Democrat MPs will go down.
As they use this tool in May some of our former supporters may well be singing to themselves — “Why should we be beggars with the ballot in our hand?”
John
“Does anyone under the age of 50 know who Joni Mtichell is / was ?”
Of course, I was referring to her magnum opus “Big Yellow Taxi”. People under the age of 50 may have heard it, as it is frequently played on the radio sung by Mitchell, or may be familiar with the versions of the song by Counting Crows, Amy Grant or Kelly Rowland, or the sampling by Labrinth.