Last year I wrote a brief blog entry on how the Chancellor had ruined St George’s Day for drinkers and licensees alike and it seems that this year he has gone for the cider drinker, with the subsequent outrage making cider a trending topic on social networking site Twitter. This will have confused American Twitter users, as they seem to think that cider is simply apple juice (despite not having similar terms for, say, orange juice, which they call ‘orange juice’).

As I discuss in We’re British, Innit, this can be the cause of great hilarity and free drinks in pubs where US tourists gather. Seeing them after 4 or 5 of Mr Magner’s ‘apple juice’ or several Cripple Cocks can be most amusing and often spectacular. Though best to stand well clear if you see one wobbling.

With this tax hike, which sees duty on cider up 10% above inflation, the Government will not have done themselves any favours with those in the West Country, tramps or underage drinkers (who also like to vote underage). Expect a hefty download campaign to get the Wurzels to number one soon, with their boozy favourite I am a cider drinker being most likely to top the charts.

Anyone switching on ITV on Sunday night could have been forgiven for thinking ‘this party political broadcast is dragging on a bit’. What they were actually watching was Trevor McDonald’s supposed interview of David Cameron, which was perhaps the most cringe-inducing piece of television since, er, Piers Morgan interviewed Gordon Brown. The journalism was so lacking that Trevor McDonald’s interview technique made Panorama look like a serious documentary strand once again. Though, under extreme pressure, Cameron’s wife Samantha did confess that he loved all three of the Godfather films and watched them again and again. This means that either the info was planted to make him look like cool man’s man or that he has no critical faculties whatsoever, as everyone knows that Godfather III is unwatchable, particularly if you have just watched Godfather I and Godfather II.

What was most interesting about the show, which tried to make ‘Dave’ look normal and in which he spoke about Samantha Cameron once living in a rough area of Bristol, was following those who were watching the show on the TV and on Twitter at the same time, with the hashtag #TrevCam being the place to catch the action. The verdict from the left and from journalists seemed to be that the whole show was an extended PR puff piece, though, oddly, Conservative party followers thought it went well and some saw it as actual journalism (though some of them called it about right). Just goes to show how party loyalties can make you blind to the truth*.

This real time critique of TV shows is a growing trend and one that will continue throughout the election, as Britain decides upon its government for the next five years or so (possibly six months if no one gains a convincing majority). I am not convinced that Twitter is the kind of tool that will change minds during this election, as most of those who are using it to follow political developments will largely already be partisan or at least opinionated. But during the next election similar tools may become a pivotal part of campaigning.

*For the record, I am not a fan of Brown or Cameron, though I will decide on Clegg when he is grilled by his mum, wife or Christopher Biggins in the next in the series of these leader interviews.