Margot's Ghost

Many people have wondered about the authorship of Margot’s Blog. It has been reviewed, pondered over, derided and applauded. But the key question of it’s authorship has remained vexed.
After this post it still will be vexed, but maybe I can shed a little light. In an article in the Brussels wannabe Time Out, The Bulletin about blogging in Brussels (ahem, what about me guv – or Marianne, or well others Margot’s blog is mentioned and talked about – along with the splendid and prize winning Zoe’s place (and yes I still get squeamish using the title – it’s like ordering a bloody stupid cocktail).

We learn that Margot’s is getting approx 2,000 hits a day but it is Mikolaj Dowgielewicz her spokesman who is quoted.
He tells us “the commissioner tries to update her blog once a week…sometimes writing by hand and having a secretary type it up”.
The article goes on,
“Despite having an official feel to it from being hosted on the European Commission’s own glossy web portal, Walstrom’s blog keeps to the blogging principles of being independent and personal. “It must be authentic, representing the feelings of the person who writes it, rather than just putting forth the views of the institution,” says Dowgielewicz. “It gives her the opportunity to speak in a very direct way about important things. It’s a much more personal means of communication than a press release and the language is different from what she would use in a speech”.

What the unpronounceable but highly paid Porte Parole fails to see is the irony. Getting a secretary to write it up, getting your press spokesman to go on about how non-institutional the blog is just doesn’t stand up. My guess is that Mikolaj is far more involved in the blog than he here admits.