Government advice urges tweeting (Use this Code 5XXXUKRA, and get 5% of all canvas art)

New government guidance has been published urging civil servants to use the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Launched on the Cabinet Office website, the 20-page document is calling on departments to “tweet” on “issues of relevance or upcoming events”.

The website is already used by Downing Street, the Foreign Office and many individual MPs.

Neil Williams, of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), published the “template” strategy.

Writing on the Cabinet Office’s digital engagement blog, Mr Williams – who is BIS’s head of corporate digital channels – conceded that 20 pages was a “a bit over the top for a tool like Twitter” but added: “I was surprised by just how much there is to say – and quite how worth saying it is.”

‘Add-on to business’

The template had been written for BIS to consider using Twitter but could be used by other departments, he said.

Publishing tweets, replying to incoming messages and monitoring the account would take less than an hour a day, according to the strategy.

There would be an “add-on” to “business as usual” activity due to quick discussions of potential tweets at daily meetings, as well as e-mails between officials and digital media staff about potential content for tweets.

The advice says BIS should produce between two and 10 tweets per day, not including replies to other Twitterers or live coverage of a crisis or event.

Tweets should also be limited to issues of relevance or upcoming events rather than just campaign messages, and insights from ministers are encouraged.

A Cabinet Office spokeswoman said: “At the moment, around 65% of homes are on the internet and there are 15 million visits a month to directgov and these numbers are growing.

“With more and more citizens using the internet it’s important that, as part of its communications approach, the government develops its capability to use digital channels effectively and that includes social media tools such as Twitter.”

More than one million people follow Downing Street’s business via Twitter.

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Italian Job Conundrum is ‘Solved’

The Royal Society of Chemistry has announced the winner of a competition to solve the conundrum at the end of the iconic UK film The Italian Job.

In the film, the robbers’ coach almost drives off a cliff, ending up balanced precariously on the edge, with the gang at one end and their gold at the other.

The RSC asked for ideas to get the gold off the coach before it tips over.

John Godwin from Surrey came up with the winning idea which involves draining fuel from the vehicle.

In the conclusion to the 1969 movie, Charlie Croker, played by Michael Caine, tries to reach the gold, but as he does so, the coach tips up dangerously.

Then gang leader Croker turns around and says: “Hang on a minute lads, I’ve got a great idea.”

So what was the idea?

Some 2,000 members of the public put forward their own theories. Many of them were from children.

Twelve-year-old Thomas Nixon’s homonym solution was for the gang to sing until they all got “frogs” in their throats. The frogs start to jump up and down which rocks the bus. They use the “rocks” to weigh down the end of the bus.

Eventually, the gang’s throats become sore from the singing. And with the “saw” they cut the gold bullion in half. Because two halves make a whole – the gang could sneak the gold through the “hole”.

But the winner, John Godwin from Godalming, had a more practical solution involving a three-stage process.

First, the coach needed to be stabilised. This involved smashing out the windows on the part of the coach overlooking the drop and smashing them inward at the front end to improve the weight ratio slightly.

One of the bullion raiders is then lowered outside and deflates the wheels to stop the coach from rocking.

Second, its weight distribution needs to be changed, particularly over the rear of the coach which is overlooking the drop. This involves emptying the fuel tank which John Godwin discovered was at the rear of the coach. This, he estimated, would contain 140kg of fuel.

Third, he would allow a member of the team to leave the coach and bring rocks in to the front of the vehicle to ensure it was stable and the gold could be removed.

“There’re several sheets of maths here,” said John Godwin.

“It was a good long day with a calculator. It’s more than 20 years since I saw the film – I remember thinking there must be some way of getting that gold off the bus.

“I always had an idea of how they might solve this – so when the Royal Society of Chemistry put this out to the public as a competition it seemed like the ideal opportunity to see if it would really work or to see if it was hot air.” 

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Mini Cars

The Mini is a small car that was produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors from 1959 until 2000. The original is considered an icon of the 1960s, and its space-saving front-wheel-drive layout (that allowed 80% of the area of the car’s floorpan to be used for passengers and luggage) influenced a generation of car-makers. The vehicle is in some ways considered the British equivalent to its German contemporary, the Volkswagen Beetle, which enjoyed similar popularity in North America. In 1999 the Mini was voted the second most influential car of the 20th Century, behind the Ford Model T.

This distinctive two-door car was designed for BMC by Sir Alec Issigonis. It was manufactured at the Longbridge and Cowley plants in the United Kingdom, the Victoria Park / Zetland British Motor Corporation (Australia) factory in Sydney, Australia, and later also in Spain (Authi), Belgium, Chile, Italy (Innocenti), Portugal, South Africa, Uruguay, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. The Mini Mark I had three major UK updates: the Mark II, the Clubman and the Mark III. Within these was a series of variations including an estate car, a pickup truck, a van and the Mini Moke — a jeep-like buggy. The Mini Cooper and Cooper “S” were sportier versions that were successful as rally cars, winning the Monte Carlo Rally four times from 1964 through to 1967, although in 1966 the Mini was disqualified after the finish, along with all the other British entrants, as the French wanted a Citroen victory. Finding no other reason to disqualify the Mini, the French hosts settled on an ‘illegal’ combination of headlamps and spotlights. Minis were marketed under the Austin and Morris names until Mini became a marque in its own right in 1969.