IN THE PAST year numerous politicians have got themselves in hot water over opinions (and photos) aired though micro-blogging site Twitter.

Most recently, British MP Diane Abbott had to apologise for a tweet in which she claimed that “white people love playing divide and rule”.

But there have been many more controversies started with a mere 140 characters.

Last year, Northern Ireland’s culture minister Carál Ní Chuilin warned herself that she needed to be “more careful” on Twitter and Lucinda Creighton caused a furore when posting about gay marriage and the civil partnership bill in February 2011.

And then of course there was that tweet during the 2011 presidential election.

On the other side, having a day-to-day (and sometimes hour-by-hour) insight into the nation’s leaders can be illuminating and narrow the gap between what’s happening in parliament and on the street. But given the limiting nature of Twitter, the tidbits of information or opinion can take on a life of their own.

So, what do you think? Is Twitter an appropriate forum for politicians to air their views?