Davey Falters in the Forum
When Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey opened the floor to questions about the Green Deal from the online forum Mumsnet, he worked hard to get users on-side, greeting everyone to whom he was responding personally and sprinkling his answers generously with friendly exclamation marks.
22nd February 2013 | Kate Roche: Rolton Group
Davey ostensibly came across as quite the affable chap, but did he actually provide answers with real substance? Though some predictably seized their opportunity to ask wholly unrelated and goading questions, most of those who took part had genuine concerns about the scheme which required a degree of insight to reconcile. It may have been coincidental, but very few of these queries were picked up; instead, Davey erred on the side of the straightforward. He favoured inquiries about his preferred type of biscuit and was happy to divulge what it felt like to pull someone from in front of a train, which was not entirely relevant with so many more pertinent questions on the table. Numerous replies appear to have been copied verbatim from the Green Deal promo script, with phrases such as ‘if you're interested about the green deal or simply about saving energy and money, phone…’ finding their way into the discussion.
Even disregarding the more intricate circumstances, more general and widely applicable questions were also dodged. For example, one user asked: ‘What happens when one might take out a 25 year loan to carry out works e.g. a new boiler and heating that will only have a 10 year guarantee?’ This seems a reasonable question; nobody wants to be paying for something which hasn’t worked in 15 years, and Davey’s silence did little to reassure those thinking of investing in similar, shorter-term improvements.
Obviously it would have been difficult for the MP to respond to each and every question, but there did seem to be a somewhat artificial avoidance of some of the pricklier topics which felt like more than just chance. Most notably, the first questions off the starting blocks all related to concerns about nuclear power, which was a subject he declined from breaching even once during the session.
Really, Davey had quite a lucky escape. Perhaps not in terms of completely avoiding discomfort, but rather in his evasion of considerable backlash for the way in which he carried out the Q&A session. Contrasting the tone used when communicating with the Mumsnet users to that which pervaded the speech he delivered only a day earlier to the AVOID symposium on climate change, the difference speaks for itself. In the flesh there stood a man speaking with gravitas and taking the subject rather more seriously, but online appeared someone who could quite justifiably be accused of extreme condescension. Davey couldn’t possibly know who he was replying to in that forum, and nor should it have influenced his attitude towards them, but suffice it to say that if he were speaking to cabinet members or other Government officials, it’s doubtful that his style would have been so informal and, at times, patronising.
This is not to imply that Davey was being intentionally hostile or derogatory. Instead it would appear that he, like the Green Deal he intends to promote, has the best of intentions, but suffers from continued bungling which ensures that the initiative remains something of a disappointment.
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