Just digging around the Hansard Society website for a copy of the report on MPs online, published by the e-democracy unit and I found the blurb for this event, The Online Campaign, in late March.

The use of online strategies is becoming increasingly important, encouraging grass-roots activism and enabling mass mobilisation. But there is no guarantee that the cooption of online strategies will guarantee electoral success or promote healthy dialogue between politicians and citizens.

Chair: Dr Laura Miller (Hansard Society eDemocracy programme)
Speakers: Derek Draper (LabourList.org), Mark Pack (libdemvoice.org), Jonathan Isaby (ConservativeHome.blogs.com)

Tuesday 24 March, 10am, House of Commons, Westminster.

I wonder if the new Director of Digital Engagement will be in post by then and if that person will attend this event.

This story got me posting as I’m a new father and my daughter is breastfed. Sarah was campaigning earlier this week with the NCT in support of their call for legislation to enshrine a woman’s right to breastfeed in public in England. The Scots have such legislation (must have been a devolved competancy) but in England and Wales breastfeeding in public is not protected. Both myself and my partner are in support of this legisation and support the NCT’s campaign.

You can find out more about the campaign for this legisation at the NCT website. The campaign was launched during Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

Only bad thing about this post is that I have linked to the Daily Mail website.

Speaking on the ‘carnage’ following the local elections in Brent, Labour Cllr Mary Arnold acknowledges that Team Yellow worked hard for the victories they knotched up:

“There is also the Teather factor - there’s a machinery that the Lib Dems have got for producing leaflets and campaigning, for bringing people in to canvass.”

The Lib Dems did manage to distribute a lot of paper in Mapesbury and Queen’s Park - significantly more than teams Red and Blue.

What will the Teather Factor mean in the light of the new Brent Council? When Ken Livingstone was the MP for Brent East in the 1990’s he was never shy of putting the boot in to the council, Blue or Red. Will Sarah continue with her tactics to date? When she was a lone Lib Dem MP for a constituency with a Labour Council, each opportunity for highlighting problems with the administration and delivery of services was taken. Now Brent Council has no overall control, the Lib Dems do have the most seats on the Council and look likely form the Executive at the Full Council meeting on the 22nd May. I’ll be monitoring for any noticable shift in tone over the coming months.

In Brent, we don’t do anything by halves. So today we elect all of our Councillors. Over at Brent East Campaigning there are a few last posts and a really great graph… when I post again we’ll know what we’ve got for the next four years…

The b.e.c weblog fears without loathing the Brent East Campaign trail, posting articles and images that catalogue the activism of the political parties and some independent candidates in this area.

I blogged the 2005 General Election, now I’m back for more during the four weeks prior to the local elections in May.