Archive for the 'british politics' Category

Nick Clegg’s Secret YouTube Weapon

Published
by
Ed
on October 26, 2007
in british politics, liberal democrats and politics+technology
. 0 Comments

I just came across this video (via Lib Dem Voice) of Paddy Ashdown, former Liberal Democrat party leader, explaining why he’s backing Nick Clegg in the leadership race.

It’s really rather good. Paddy looks relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera, aided by the fact the camera is shooting from an angle and not head on (kudos to the cameraman!). This is a highly effective technique that can instantly improve the quality of a video. The lighting is good, streaming in through the window behind him, making Paddy look young and fresh. The open laptop and coffee mug on the desk also add a sense of authenticity.

This is an excellent example of good quality online video. Regardless of who you support in the Lib Dem leadership race, I hope all Lib Dem members will take note of the simple techniques applied in this video and try to put them into practice themselves.

It will also be interesting to see if Nick can match Paddy’s on camera performance and whether his campaign team are going to make online video a central part of their campaign. A large YouTube button does appear very prominently on the frontpage of Nick’s website at least, alongside buttons for two other major social networking sites, Flickr and Facebook.

My one request though, please get rid of that ghastly background on Nick’s YouTube page! It gives me a headache every time I look at it and frankly the information you are trying to convey, i.e. Nick’s name, slogan and website url, is not very clear.

Iain Dale’s Criticism of British Government’s Blog Monitoring Unit Unfair

Published
by
Ed
on August 17, 2007
in british politics
. 0 Comments

I have to say I disagree strongly with Iain Dale’s criticism of the British government’s Media Monitoring Unit for extending their coverage to the blogosphere.

I can only assume Iain was in a particularly grumpy mood when he wrote this post as he’s usually such a strong advocate for the blogosphere and genuinely appears to understand its growing importance within society. As he often rails against the dismissive attitude of some politicians and journalists towards the blogosphere, including his own blog, it would seem self-defeating to criticize the government for actually reading blogs.

I am particularly mystified by this statement:

I do know that about a year ago Conservative Campaign Headquarters added blogs to the Shadow Cabinet daily media monitoring brief. I was rather horrified at the time.

As someone who spends many hours trying to persuade politicians to read political blogs, I find this extremely frustrating. If I supported the Conservative Party, I would be delighted to know blogs are included in CCHQ’s daily media briefing.

Clarence Mitchell, the MMU’s director, explains,:

There’s a whole level of debate taking place online which simply didn’t exist before and departments feel they need to be fully engaged in that.

e-Gov advocate, architect and blogger, Simon Dickson, follows up:

What’s the alternative - ignore the blogosphere? How often do I read posts complaining that the government isn’t listening to ordinary people outside the Westminster Village?

As Iain rightly points out there is a lot of rubbish written online, but amidst the rubbish there is a lot of extremely high quality and influential content. Surely, putting ideological viewpoints aside for one second, it is the job of the government’s MMU to find that high quality and influential content?

US Bloggers Consider Joining/Forming Labor Union

Published
by
Ed
on August 17, 2007
in american politics and british politics
. 1 Comment

Some labor advocates say the blogosphere deserves entry into organized labor, as e-writers increasingly face the same workforce issues as freelance writers in the print world.

Jonathan Tasini, executive director of the Labor Research Association and a former president of the National Writers Union, said on Monday that bloggers “could in fact” join the writers union.” (hattip Beltway Blogroll)

National Journal’s chief blog advocate/correspondent, Danny Glover, has the full story over at Beltway Blogroll.

I’d love to hear the British media establishment’s reaction if British bloggers ever made such a move? I suspect it would be somewhat less charitable!

I am no fan of labor unions, but it does demonstrate how much more mature the American blogosphere is compared to its British brethren.

Lib Dem Blogosphere Comes of Age

Published
by
Ed
on June 20, 2007
in british politics and liberal democrats
. 3 Comments

It nearly disappeared into the ether a month ago, but over the last couple of days Lib Dem Voice has proved its worth.

I’ve been reading Lib Dem blogs almost daily for over a year now, the excellent LibDemBlogs.org.uk makes it so easy, with Lib Dem Voice as my first destination. Although several Lib Dem MPs write excellent blogs, Lynne Featherstone, John Hemming and Steve Webb to name just a few, I had never seen a Lib Dem MP post a comment on a blog other than their own. (CORRECTION: Jeremy Hargreaves has informed me Ming commented on his blog back in June. My overall point remains valid though.)

That all changed this week. On Tuesday, Lynne Featherstone posted a comment on a story about Ken Livingstone on Lib Dem Voice. As a former member of the London Assembly Lynne is uniquely placed to comment on Mayor Livingstone. Lynne’s typically adventurous foray into the blogosphere illuminated the discussion and was pleasantly surprising. It was fantastic to come across a Lib Dem MP willing to take part in the online conversation.

I was therefore even more suprised and delighted when I saw Ed Davey, Ming Campbell’s Chief of Staff and the party’s campaigns chief, was the first to comment on Stephan Tall’s LDV story, Lib Dems to join Brown cabinet?

Clearly, this was a major political story. It dominated the BBC’s political coverage all day, drawing comment on the Daily Politics, Newsnight and Nick Robinson’s blog.

Ed’s comment, made at 9:09 am, which must have been posted almost as soon as Stephen’s article appeared, is an important sign of the importance the Lib Dem hierarcy places on the blogosphere. As recently as 6 months ago, a source within the Lib Dems’ Cowley Street HQ confirmed Lib Dem MPs do not receive a review of the blogosphere as part of their media briefings. Evidently Ed or a member of his staff are checking LDV regularly.

Ed’s rapid rebuttal was sharp and to the point:

For the record, there is no prospect of any Liberal Democrat joining the Brown Government.

He was obviously extremely angry, just like many Lib Dems are, that such a story made the front page of a national newspaper.

Putting the political dimension to one side, it was great to read such a passionate response on a blog that has built a strong Lib Dem community. Similar rebuttal statements can often be found in the MSM, but it’s so much more meaningful when a senior member of the party speaks directly to the Lib Dem community. Ed did himself enormous credit with this comment and immediately set the firm tone of the party’s response to this story. The opening line of the following comment is testament to this:

Phew - long winded comment narrowly averted by Ed’s response. Well done Ed.

In the comments that followed, not one gave the story any credit. Yes, the story still received significant coverage in the MSM, but those who read Ed’s comment immediately set about defending the party. Stories titled The Guaridan Talks Rot, Morally Bankrupt Guardian shows that it is no guardian of free speech and high political values, Liberals resist headless chicken hysteria at “bums on seats” story, Do we really worry the other parties that much?, A cosy consensus, , Cabinet seats and spin and More Guardian tripe appeared on Lib Dem blogs. Even Tory blogger Iain Dale was forced to admit the story had

all the hallmarks of Labour spin.

It would be a bit of a stretch to suggest everyone who posted a story or commented on The Guardian’s erroneous reporting read Ed’s comment, but it certainly helped.

This is a significant development for the Lib Dem blogosphere and for the party. I sincerely hope that more Lib Dem MPs begin engaging with the community of Lib Dem bloggers. The community is active and vibrant, full of ideas and energy and research in the US demonstrates bloggers are some of the most influential members of society. Well done to Lynne and Ed. It’s now time for all Lib Dem MPs to get involved.

UPDATE: Steve Webb MP has now posted a comment over at LDV, Paddy turned down N.Ireland; MPs angry at ‘elderly Scots.’

Gordon, is that really you?

Published
by
Ed
on May 11, 2007
in british politics, labour party and politics+technology
. 2 Comments

Just took a quick look at Gordon Brown’s new website which was launched today to coincide with the start of his bid for leadership of the Labour Party and by default also Prime Minister (for the benefit of my non-British readers, yes I know this is ridiculous!).

Apart from the bizarre alterations to the RSS feed icon identified by Simon Collister at eDemocracy Update, the first thing that strikes me is the photo on the homepage. At first, I wondered if the photo had been doctored. That’s certainly what it looked like on Gordon Brown’s campaign site. However, when I saved the image and uploaded it to my own site it looked absolutely fine.

Gordon Brown’s Homepage Photo

Not quite the scoop I was hoping for, but a demonstration of the generally dismissive attitude of British politicos to the Internet and technology.

Given the recent scandal involving a Labour Party local council candidate, who doctored a photo to try and prove he attended the national anti-war march in February 2003, you would have thought Brown’s e-campaign team would have been more careful.

Correcting this error would not have taken them much effort. Instead, Britain’s Prime Minister in waiting kicks off his campaign surrounded by a whiff of scandal and looks amateurish and unprofessional.



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