Oh dear. The Twitter wars are continuing apace, now that David Cameron has risen to John Prescott’s challenge of a debate on the NHS. The mediators are the Manchester Evening News, who have just published Cameron’s response to Prescott on their Twitter feed. So what is it? Erm, this:
“The real question is why won’t Labour match the Conservatives’ pledge for year on year real-terms increases in NHS spending over the next Parliament”
As I said last week, there are definite dangers with the Tories pushing this line quite so eagerly – not least because it plays into the Brownite idea that spending is a good thing in and of itself. But, more generally, it demonstrates why Cameron should steer clear of Prescott’s Twitterific hunting ground. There’s not a lot of space for nuance in 140 characters, and – as we’ve seen over the past week – that can help fuel tittle-tattle and caricature.
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