Journalists are reliably nasty about party political broadcasts. It's hard to get us to take the things seriously. So the Conservatives have come up with a new wheeze for the local elections: the Personal Political Broadcast. "All you have to do is record a 30 second video clip answering the question: 'How would you improve your local environment?'" explains the party. "You can do this through a webcam, a mobile phone, or by coming along to one of our campaign events in the next few weeks. Send us your 30 second clips in a video format, and the best replies will be edited into our broadcasts and aired to the nation on the BBC. Simple."
Of course, plenty of the contributions will end up being banal ("I'd get that bloody skip towed away" ... "I'd get the council to clear up the dog turds in the park"). And it would be easy to dismiss this as an attempt to make PPBs on the cheap at a time when the Conservatives, like Labour, need to rein in their spending. But it is doubtless also intended to convey the message that the Tories are happy to let their supporters do their PR rather than exerting a Mandelsonian grip on the party message. And note that "would" in the question. The implication is that Britain is a nation of environmentalists who are being prevented from nurturing their surroundings by an uncaring government.
