Stephen Timms MP (Meat Plank)

What to say, in the aftermath of the Digital Economy Bill (DEB), about the letter sent by Stephen Timms MP (our Minister for Digital Britain) to another MP, Emily Thornberry, in which he explains the acronym ‘IP address’ as meaning ‘intellectual property address’.

There’s been quite a bit of online guffawing and hair-pulling about this already today, mostly suggesting that Stephen Timms personally doesn’t know what an IP address is. I’m torn between my intrinsic good nature and the bitter cynicism I’ve been forced to cultivate.

Viewed charitably: Stephen Timms probably doesn’t write a lot of his own mail. In any case, ministerial questions are usually picked up by expert civil servants in the relevant department. What may well have happened here is a civil servant wrote an answer and, in the casual manner of someone who deals with this stuff every day, just wrote “IP address” without spelling it out. It was then either typed up or checked over by a wonklet, who added the incorrect detail for clarity.

Viewed uncharitably: Either Stephen Timms or (perhaps more damningly) someone in his department thinks IP addresses exist for the purpose of intellectual property enforcement, rather than simply to identify network nodes.

Even if it’s somewhere between the two, the implied acceptance that IP addresses are a realistic means of detecting and enforcing infringement is troubling, particularly as it’s precisely this logic which underpins the craziest parts of the DEB.

Well hung

The media cliché du jour seems to be that David Cameron “has a mountain to climb” if he’s to secure a workable majority in four weeks time. Of course, the true picture is muddied by wildly diverging poll results, which probably reflect either:

a) The high proportion of decidedly undecided voters.
b) The political allegiances of the newspapers doing the commissioning.

Either way though, it seems less and less likely that Cameron will be able to surf along the Mall, through Westminster and into the doors of Number 10 on a wave of grateful Hard-Working British Families.

But a hung parliament may not be such a bad thing. Sure, traders all over the world are likely to start selling the Pound like it’s made of ghosts, but I don’t think that should be our primary concern. At best, forced cooperation with other parties will lead whoever forms the next Government to abandon some of their entrenched thinking. At worst, it’ll gum up the whole system so badly that nobody will be able to do anything to make matters worse. Frankly, either sounds good.

Dread and apathy on the campaign trail

There was a time when I'd get very excited at the prospect of a General Election; the trading of Big Ideas, our one real chance to change the course and currency of the national debate.

But this time, it feels a bit like I've been gang raped by three bikers, then asked which of them gets to be my boyfriend.

And I won’t even get a tattoo in return for voting.