Public Affairs 2.0

Shocking behaviour at the weekend as Hello Magazine pin-up Nicholas Sarkozy verbally abused an unfriendly bystander at the Salon International de l’Agriculture. When have French farmers ever deserved such treatment?

Happily, video footage of the incident is all over Youtube. The clip I saw already had over 200,000 hits – see below

A question – is it a good political strategy for politicians to lose their rag on TV? Remember the old adage that there is no such thing as bad publicity. Perhaps this is all part of a cunning plan to use the power of digital to boost Sarko’s flagging Carla Bruni-inspired ratings…

Another example: Type former UK Deputy Prime Minister “John Prescott” into Youtube, the first entry you get is the infamous “John Prescott Punch”.

As one Youtube comment put it: “I think there should be more public vs. minister fights. Imagine the TV ratings.”

In fact, the internet is awash with politicians behaving badly – mass Parliamentary brawls being ever popular with Youtubers. Bolivian, Indian, Jordanian and Russian MPs have all taken their differences a bit too far in the past. But absolutely no-one can match the carnage often seen in the Taiwanese Parliament – see this compilation:

Such a crying shame these scenes are never repeated in the EP. The only fun we have is when Berlusconi comes to town.