Constituents can now find out what Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones has been up to through his new Instagram account.
Many politicians use the photo friendly Instagram network to show a gentler side, away from the often brutal battlegrounds of Twitter and Facebook.
In 2018, Conservative MPs were even given training to improve their Instagram skills with polling suggesting the platform could help show they are “real people”.
New Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has 92,000 followers, has used Instagram to cultivate her image. She’s posed with cats, showed off her baking skills and met celebrities like Taylor Swift.
Time will tell if Mr Jones decides to show us what he’s had for breakfast. He’s so far posted a video of him meeting constituents at Knaresborough Market and a photo from outside the House of Commons.
So far, his account has 12 followers and it follows the accounts of Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak, the Conservative Party and 10 Downing Street.
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Mr Jones would probably admit that other politicians are more natural performers on social media.
After the murder of David Amess MP last year, he spoke out about the “personal and toxic narrative” against MPs online. A search of his Twitter mentions reveals almost daily insults.
A couple of years ago, he set his Twitter account to retweets only and stopped directly engaging with people through the platform.
However, with a general election possibly just 18 months away, his renewed presence on social media could signal an attempt to connect to younger voters in Harrogate and Knaresborough.
But although Mr Jones has opened up new lines of communication, others appear to remain shut. The Stray Ferret asked Mr Jones why he set up the account but, as usual, we did not receive a response.
Harrogate blogger blackmailed by scammers reclaims Instagram accountA Harrogate blogger who was blackmailed by scammers is relieved today after managing to get back into her Instagram account.
Lucy Playford has run the Harrogate Mama blog and social media channels for six years and provides updates on family life in the town and visits to local businesses.
But Turkey-based scammers tricked their way into her Instagram account, which has 6,000 followers, and demanded money to hand it back. She feared the account was lost forever.
However, there has been a twist in the tale — a day after a Stray Ferret article highlighted the blogger’s plight, she has managed to get back into her account.
Ms Playford described yesterday how it happened:
“The hackers posted on my account tonight at a little after 9pm, thankfully due to your reporting and so many people knowing I’d been hacked lots of people contacted me to let me know the hackers were posting.
“This quick alerting led me being able to see the hackers had changed the name of my account to HarrogetaMama (deliberately spelled wrong to trick people) – and they were trying to extort money from my followers asking for investment.”
The suspicious Instagram post posted last night.
Ms Playford added:
Why Reed Boardall in Boroughbridge is a great place to work“This meant now I could see what the account had been re-named, I could go through the verification process with Instagram again. This time the selfie verification process worked and I received retrieval codes from Instagram, albeit in Turkish, so Google Translate came in handy!
“After over two hours’ work between my husband and myself we managed to get back into the account. We have now changed the username back to HarrogateMama, changed the email address and set up the two-factor authentication.
“The swift action of so many people alerting me to the hackers posting meant I could get my account back.
“Lessons learned and message to spread about ALWAYS setting up two-factor authentication.”
This advertorial is sponsored by Reed Boardall.
Harrogate man Tom Cowgill is proud to work at Reed Boardall.
The long-established Boroughbridge company is a local success story and has grown into the UK’s largest single-site cold storage facility with an 800‐strong team.
It stores and delivers stocks of the UK’s leading chilled and frozen brands across the UK, Europe and further afield to all of the best‐known supermarkets and food service providers.
Tom joined the company straight out of school aged 18 and works in its warehouse operation. He said he enjoys being an important cog in a well-oiled machine and says “there’s no place” like Reed Boardall.
Family values
Reed Boardall’s HQ is capable of storing over 168,000 pallets of frozen produce at any one time.
It’s a huge operation but Tom, who is now 24, said the company has strong family values.
However, that wasn’t a surprise to him as his dad, Paul, works there too – he’s been with the company for 12 years and is currently a Development Manager.
Tom has earned three promotions and is currently a team leader in the picking department. He said the company is “great for advancement”.
Reed Boardall, which is based in Boroughbridge. Picture: Reed Boardall.
He added:
“They’ve looked after me really well and I got promoted quickly. They obviously see something in me.
“You build good relationships with management and they’ll help you as much as you help them.”
Every day is different
Tom manages a tight-knit team of seven people who he said can have a laugh together. He considers them to all be his friends.
The facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and Tom said shifts are flexible to fit around employees’ lives.
He said there are always opportunities to earn extra money too by doing overtime.
Tom hopes to progress further with the company and said there are teams that specialise in engineering, transportation, packing or office-based roles.
He said:
“There are always different career paths at Reed Boardall.”
He added:
“It is a challenging job, especially in a picking department. It’s different every day and it’s a great place to work.”