This is to go up soon at X, a reaction to something I saw earlier:

Imagine being at a fairly large garden party organised by X … lovely weather, many Xers and bloggers we know there, suitably refreshed, chance to meet fellow tweeters and bloggers, even vloggers, aim of course to get around our friends, find out about each other … not quite like how Ricky Nelson did at his Garden Party. We each respect the other’s fine work, sounds like a fun afternoon.

So I’m over one side talking to a friend and colleague who’s both tweeter and blogger, having a laugh, as are dozens around us, some whom we know and plan to go over to in a while … the way garden parties work. Suddenly there’s a disturbance, everyone looks over towards the marquee and there’s a lovely, elegant lady who’s stepped up onto a small dais and is addressing the entire assembly:

“I’d just like to thank you all for your eternal love and devotion to me, “my” five thousand “followers”, I could not have achieved it without your selfless simping, especially my admiring men.”

My friend grins and raises an eyebrow … “She wot?”

I wince and add … “Not good optics, are they?” Similar things are being said around the garden. Truth is, she’s a fine looking gal, elegantly dressed, her output is high quality … photos of Paris, elegance, fashion, the beauty of the female … plus in our few exchanges, she’d been friendly, as had I.

But I have a “garden party” notion of X, as does my friend and colleague … we’ve a few friends we like to get around to and ask how they are today, one-on-one … the idea, though, of getting up and thanking “all” our “followers” is just not one which crosses our minds. To my friend and I there sipping our proseccos and whiskies, we just admire the output, the work, of fellow pundits … but hardly as devoted, simping “followers” … anyone ever heard the word “sigma”? Unherdable cats?

Suddenly, someone else gets up on a dais further over … a shortbearded chap whom many read on his substack, often on GB News, always putting the hard word on his many “admirers” to subscribe to his new empire, to “buy him a coffee” for £20 a month. He also has this “I’m the sun and you’re all my satellites” mindset. I murmur: “What gives with these people?”

“Narcissists,” is her reply.