QUITE a number of MPs use Twitter these days. Some use it to show the outside world how hard working they are, others use it to show how profound they are, and others use it simply to comment on matters of import.

I generally use it for two reasons: to direct traffic to this blog and to have a laugh.

This seems to irritate some. I Twittered this morning about my worries that the movie, "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" might not be historically accurate. The thought occurred briefly as I sat watching TV with the boys and a trailer for the movie in question came on. And that was it: a whimsical thought, no more. 

But it turns out that MPs aren’t allowed to enjoy the ordinary pleasures of mere mortals. Because within a short time two of my "followers" on Twitter left these comments. 

I suppose I should feel chastened. After all, how dare an MP have an ordinary life, loafing around in his jim-jams of a Saturday morning, making the kids’ breakfast while they watch Scooby-Doo? Why that’s almost… I hardly dare think it, but that’s almost as if MPs lead similar lives to the people they represent!!

But surely not?! It’s just too awful to contemplate! MPs surely spend all their spare time at weekends examining select committee reports and the Financial Times, listening to the World Service and pondering the Great Truths of Our Time, yes? Why should they even get paid (from the public purse, no less!) if they’re just going to fritter away their spare time with their families?

And every syllable of every Tweet (should we even allow legislators to Tweet anyway? Is that a productive use of their time when it could be better used helping to heal the world?) should be to the benefit of mankind, offering succour and sage advice to their followers. They certainly shouldn’t use taxpayers’ money (Isn’t Twitter free? – Ed) to make jokes or be anything less than deadly dull serious.

Yes, well…

Isn’t it wonderful how we all welcomed new media forms like blogging, Twitter and Facebook by pointing out that there were no longer any rules, and then, within a heartbeat, decided that certain users of these platforms should be constrained in what they want to say?

People say they want poltiicians to be the same as everyone else. Sometimes I wonder if that’s true.

As long-time readers of this blog (and of my Tweets) will know, I sometimes write about big, important matters of the day. More often, I don’t. And sometimes, faced with a choice between writing about the G20 or the latest casting decision on Doctor Who… well, I think you know what choice I’d make. As I say in the "About me" section of this blog: "If you believe that politicians take themselves too seriously, you might enjoy it. If you think they should take themselves very seriously indeed, or shouldn’t have any interests outside politics, I would avoid it, frankly. Try John Redwood." 

If (and it’s a big "if") I had anything profound, interesting or important to say, I would say it on this blog, not in 140 characters or fewer on Twitter. I would then post a short Tweet directing users back to my blog and, more than likely, make a joke about something entirely unconnected to anything a short while later.

To stop following me on Twitter, just click "stop following" in my profile page. Simple.