DEREK DRAPER RESIGNS AS EDITOR OF LABOUR LIST

Labour Party

So Derek Draper has now resigned as Editor of LabourList passing the mantle of Labour blogging to his deputy Alex Smith.

Derek Draper

Derek Draper

In his resignation statement Draper admits that his position following the Damian McBride affair was untenable, and that he felt he could no longer continue in his position on LabourList.

LabourList was, and still is, a real opportunity for Labour and left-wing bloggers to challenge the seeming hegemony of the right in the blogosphere. We need more people out there blogging for the progressive cause and not let political blogging be dominated by the likes of Iain Dale, Conservative Home and the appalling Guido Fawkes.

Labour also needs to widen the scope of its blogging. The leaders in the political arena – Iain Dale,Guido Fawkes and our very own Tom Harris – are very Westminster focused. Richard Corbett, my MEP colleague from York and Humber, and I blog on Europe and I try to bring a feminist dimension to my posts. The excellent Luke Akehurst (I wish him all the best for a full recovery from his illness) tells us about local government. These are all good, but only Tom Harris competes with the Tories on viewing numbers.

We now need to move left leaning blogging forward to take in more subjects and reflect more opinions. LabourList can do this. Good luck to Alex Smith.

PRESCOTT THE “CYBER-WARRIOR” STRIKES AGAIN!

blog, internet, Labour Party, Online media

Thought I would share with my readers John Prescott’s wonderful video that I saw at the LabourList Bloggers’ Breakfast this morning. It was a light hearted message to Peter Mandelson, who was present at the meeting!

LABOUR LIST GETTING BETTER

bloging, Labour Party

logolabourlist5After my posting on how LabourList could be improved I met Derek Draper. I am pleased he has taken on board several of my suggestions. The contributors are wider and my suggestion for Ann Black’s NEC report to be published has been incorporated. Here is the first one.

Day by day as in any launch things are getting better. They are screening more and more Labour blogs. I still think it is a bit too top heavy and more grassroots contributors would be great. Derek asked me to tell all aspiring bloggers please just get on and submit pieces.

The navigation on Iphones/Blackberries still leaves a lot to be desired. To go to an article you have to scroll through dozens of contributors visages for no good reason. It is still in beta and I hope this will be addressed before the full launch next week.

I will be taking Derek at his word and submitting pieces and I hope other Labour Party supporters will do so to.