Why Jeremy Clarkson should not close his Twitter Account

Whenever anybody writes a blog or opens up a social media account, it is not in the hope that nobody will read it so it follows that we do hope it reaches a good number of people and that they take the time to look at our words.

We are all becoming very aware that there is a dark side to twitter and forums, especially as so many are not open and hide behind the name Anonymous. (Actually as an aside, that name brought so many horrible comments to my blog last week that just seeing the name now has 'anchored' horrible feeliings. Bit like a halloween mask!).

I am very much a coward when it comes to things like heights, bungee jumping etc and in fact had some NLP sessions to allow me to at least behave like a normal person when looking down a mountainside for instance, instead of becoming virtually hysterical! But when it comes to verbal attack, nasty comments even ridicule, it's water off a duck's back, as far as I'm concerned. I learn from everything and always take it as a great opportunity to learn something more about myself or the human race. The week has been very interesting..

You see you have to give your permission to be insulted, embarrassed or threatened when it comes to words and I choose not to. I will always speak my truth for after all 'Truth' is usually subjective.

Apparently Jeremy Clarkson lost a beloved pet and posted said news on his twitter account. Hoping for some sympathy, I suppose, he was soon shocked as he didn't reckon on his followers sending nasty replies which resulted in him losing his temper and calling us all complete utter b*******! (There goes that generalisation again) Obviously the trolls waded in further.

Amanda Platell, in her Daily Mail article on Saturday, said she lost sympathy with him at that point but actually I haven't. He obviously doesn't mean that, he was just lashing out and we all know that Clarkson speaks first and then engages brain. It's what I enjoy about him. No, nothing excuses the wickedness of laughing at someone who is grieving for a family member (which is what a pet is).

She also says he should close his twitter account. That's ridiculous and don't do that Jeremy. What a world it would be if we all gave up going to work each day because we were being bullied there? No, you just learn from your mistakes, ensure that nasty trolls are shown up for what they are and the rest of us must not tolerate this any further.

It does seem that hiding behind anonymity gives people the power to say things they would never say openly. It is from their own personal frustration and rage or a lack of their own confidence, that they feel the need to do this. Bless them, it makes them feel better and bigger. Really confident people show gratitude, praise, understanding and have an open mind. They have empathy and understanding.

So what did I learn from my own experience of the nasty trolls, this week.

1) Don't write a blog in haste (in my defense I was in pain and sitting down made it worse) but take the time to re-read it to see if it has clean language and that the messages could not be missed.

2) I had thousands visit this blog and Ipswich politics made national newspapers. All publicity is good publicity according to the good old saying - time will tell. Either way, at least I was read!

3) None of the labour councillors jumped on the bandwagon. This is what I expect from councillors. We have a code of conduct and most of us stick to it. I thank them nevertheless. I may have this wrong of course and some could still be brought to my attention but if they have it will be minimal.

4) It has shown that there is a small nasty Left that have so much spite its laughable that they call us the Nasty Party. And I wanted the world to know it. Whether its from the right or left, this horrible way of expressing any frustration whilst exclaiming that they care about the planet is an oxymoron. The hypocrites must be shown up for what they are.

5) I now know that I can deal with large scale adverse publicity. So I practise what I preach when it comes to saying that words are what you want them to be. Don't be a victim. it doesn't help. I think it took me longer to get over Van Persie going to Man U than it did the hate mail!

6) Family, colleagues and friends backing me and telling me how great, clever, intuitive, creative and successful I am and sod the others. Thankyou for warming my heart.