A friend sends me a link to a news story about a spat between two councillors – one being interviewed on the radio, and the other responding simultaneously – and robustly – via Twitter.

The story is here – but don’t click it if mild profanity might offend.

Like so many things, there’s the funny side of the story, which is why the link was sent, and the salutary lesson. In this case the lesson is that twitter is very informal and can sometimes encourage the use of, erm, unparliamentary language. And should you be an elected representative, swearing can land you in trouble. Councillors are routinely reported to the Standards Board for swearing at or about each other. So while the country likes to pretend that all politicians are paragons of virtue who never allow even the least unsavoury expression to pass their lips, remember to use the same level of language however and to whomever you communicate.

If you are on Twitter and you can’t remember whether you swear there or not, then Cursebird can rapidly tell you how much you swear and just how offensive you are. I apparently “swear like a teacher’s pet.” Cursebird maintains a league table of the sort of swearwords that would make a trooper blush, so don’t click here until you have shepherded your womenfolk, children, pets and servants out of room and you are sure none will be offended.

And whilst you’ve got the room to yourself, here’s one more link to the sort of content that might get you into trouble. Earlier today, Iain Dale posted a video of how to conduct a testicular exam, following the news that a favourite footballer of his had been diagnosed with testicular cancer. This disease is a big killer of men in their late teens and twenties (along with suicide and road accidents) so I have no qualms about helping as many people as possible hear about. Not least since testicular cancer can easily be treated if caught in the early stages.