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News Editor
Written by the news editors of The Independent this blog brings you the stories behind the headlines, the raw footage of events as they happen and an insider guide to the most interesting news from across the internet. Use the blog to contact the paper directly with your stories and comment on the major issues of the day.
Twitterers and readers of the Independent are to interview Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg on Wednesday, in a question and answer session delivered purely through Twitter. It will take place live on Wednesday July 15th at 4pm (BST).
So we're looking for Twitterers around the world to join with us to help put questions to Mr Clegg - we are working with Tweetminster, the estimable company that focuses on UK politics and brings news and commentary together with its Twitter service (of which, more soon), and we will launch the first ever (well, so far as we know) Twinterview* with a major political figure. The idea is to bring politicians and citizens closer, using the mechanisms of the web to open up new channels between them. So please ask your questions and get your followers and fellow twitterers to do the same.
To ask Nick Clegg a question simply tweet your question to @IndyPolitics with the hashtag #tweetclegg . Questions will be filtered by @IndyPolitics and answered by Nick through his account @Nick_Clegg. Tweetminster (@tweetminster) will be re-tweeting all the questions and answers too. To follow the Twinterview make sure you’re following all the accounts involved (@IndyPolitics, @Nick_Clegg and @tweetminster).
You can start sending your questions in now and also tweet them in live during the interview.
The transcript of the Questions and Answers will also be aggregated and published by the Independent and by Tweeminster following the interview.
Nick Clegg said: “Reaching out to people, listening to them and explaining what we stand for is a vital part of my work as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.
“Whether it’s travelling round the country holding town hall meetings as I do most weeks or answering people’s questions on Twitter, engaging with people is also essential to fixing our broken political system.
“I’m looking forward to responding to people’s concerns about the issues that they are most concerned about, and perhaps unusually for a politician, doing so succinctly.”
We’re hoping that Tweetminster and ourselves will be following the interview with Nick Clegg with a series of exclusive Twinterviews aimed at connecting people directly with politicians. Watch this space.
*Twinterview - forgive us
*Twinterview - forgive us
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Comments
Still, anti-Twitter ramblings and format reservations aside, fair play to Clegg for putting himself in front of the public in this way - I doubt Cameron and especially Brown would be willing to do the same (if he's got any sense at all, following the Youtube incident Brown would be well advised never to touch a computer again). Clegg does seem to have been doing better recently in getting himself out there and noticed. Just hope with all the extra attention he has something worth hearing...
best
Jimmy